Those Three Words
by Eraser Raiin
Summary: This is wrong... This is so wrong, and we both know it. So why can't we stop? SonicxTails. AU.
1. Introduction

Mobius. A beautiful planet. Long green grass, lush tall trees, neat buildings. Never any terror or disturbance to average life. The sky remained pastel-blue throughout the summer, turned golden through autumn, chilly blue again in winter, and then pink in the spring. Never was there a grey sky, never any kind of natural disaster such as floods or earthquakes. It would seem, then, that Mobius was in fact, the perfect place to live. And for most, it was heaven. Yet for others, for a very very small few, it complete and utter hell.

Because the citizens of Mobius, though on the outside would appear constantly cheerful and polite, always socializing with each other, making new friends every day, were holding a dark secret, causing pain and suffering and depression to that select few.

Every single child in all of Mobius, on their fifth birthday – sometimes even before – were taught how to hate and despise these people. They were taught that these people were wrong, they were doing something terrible which should never have even begun. They were told stories about what had happened to these people in the past, how they had been tortured non-stop for days on end, set up publicly for everyone to watch, even to join in with the torture. They would be beaten, jeered at, dragged around, forced to lay naked on a bed of glasswhile other so-called 'Ordinary' citizens walked across them or even set them alight...

That's right, they told this to _five-year-olds_, and the kids, boys and girls, were expected to nod and agree and laugh at the thought of torture inflicted on these people.

The ones who loved others the same gender as themselves.

Mobius, the planet thought to be perfect, peaceful, absolute heaven, was so cruelly homophobic as to torture gays to their deaths. Every single child, while being giving the homophobic lecture, was also told that they should grow up to get married to the opposite gender, have children... Most of them – every single one for the past sixty-odd years – did.

Two teenagers who had been given this same lecture almost ten years ago were two best friends by the names of Sonic the hedgehog and Miles the fox, known to everyone as Tails because of a unique birth deformacy which left him with an extra tail.

It was these appendages that had spurred the friendship in the first place.

It was early summer. Sonic was six years old, Tails four. Their parents had both decided to bring their children to a local playground, neither knowing the other or their identicle plans. They had arrived at roughly the same time, Sonic and his mother just a bit earlier.

Sonic, who had been confident and laid-back for the past five years, happily hurried over to the other children, his unique blue quills fluttering behind him. Anyone else would have been teased for having odd-coloured fur, but Sonic's cool, confident personality seemed to push it all aside, and everyone acted as if blue fur was completely normal, though no other known creature on the entire _planet_ had cobalt-blue fur.

Tails was a lot more shy, clinging to his mother desperately at the sight of the large group of children in front of him, all happily chatting and playing together. Tails shrank back, shuddering at the thought of rolling around on the dusty ground, playfully fighting with the other little boys. Even the neat girls scared him a little, with their giggles and chatter, clumped in small friendship groups.

"Go on, Tails honey." His mother urged, "Go and play with the other children."

Glancing fearfully up at her, Tails swallowed, chewing his glove anxiously. He was given a gentle push of encouragement from his mother, and she smiled at him as he walked away, gazing longingly over his shoulder at her as he walked slowly towards the playthings. Most children hung from the climbing frame, or lay in the long grass, or sat on the roundabout. Tails looked over to his left, at a row of little swings, their seats red. It was about the only place that didn't have another child near it.

Tails toddled over, hoisting himself onto the nearest crimson seat. He clung to the ropes tightly, as if afraid that he might fall off. For a while he just sat there, swinging his short legs slowly. Then, he gave a tiny kick that pulled him forwards a little and then sent him swinging backwards. He gave a slightly bigger kick, thrusting his stumpy legs out in front of him. He was just swinging backwards again when he came to an abrupt halt, suspended in mid-air.

Tails gave a quiet gasp as he felt himself begin to slide off the plastic seat. He gripped the ropes desperately, before being shoved hard, sending him careering forwards at incredible speed. A loud squeal escaped his mouth as he was given another strong push and sent even higher. He heard laughing behind him, obviously from other kids who had decided to pick on him for fun.

This time, as Tails swung back, the swing seat was grabbed and tipped over, so he slid right off into the mud. He sat up, trembling, and then started to cry, burying his blue eyes into his fists. His tormenters jeered more.

"Aww, don't cry, little freak." The boy who had said this walked slowly around Tails, circling him carefully. He stood still as he reached the back of Tails, grinning like a maniac. The kid grabbed both of Tails' tails, tugging them hard so Tails was pulled backwards.

"Eww." The boy said. He lowered his head to whisper in Tails' ear. "Don't you know anything? You're not _supposed_ to have two tails, stupid." He hissed, as if Tails had chosen to have two of them. "Oh well," The boy carried on, "I guess we can fix it." He siezed Tails' tails in both hands and tied them into a tight knot, causing Tails to yelp in pain, which only made the kid pull harder. All of his friends, plus more kids, laughed and jeered at the fox, some even coming closer to poke him and tug his fur. From where Tails' mother was, it looked as if Tails was simply making friends.

The leader, the boy who had tied Tails' tails, was now kicking at him, and telling others to join in. One even stamped on his tails, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Hey!" Came a small, but demanding voice. "Leave him alone!" Several children were shoved to the floor, some being trampled on. The leader kid was punched right across the face, knocking him to the ground. Sonic scooped Tails into his arms and carried him out of the crowd of scattering kids. Both mothers hurried over as they saw Sonic cradling a sobbing Tails.

Laying the young kitsune on the ground, Sonic gently untied his tails, smoothing them out. Tails scrubbed at his eyes, sniffing. His mother ran over and scooped him up into her arms, as Sonic's mother grabbed her son's hand. Sonic continued to stare up at Tails, cocking his head to the side in amazement at the sight of him burying his head into his mother's shoulder.

"Are you Ok?" Sonic asked quietly. Tails turned his head to look down at Sonic, and nodded. "You don't say much, do you?" Sonic observed. "My name's Sonic the hedgehog. What's yours?" Tails sniffed.

"Tails." He replied quietly. Sonic grinned.

"Heh. I think your tails are cool. And it's a cool name, too."

Both parents watched in awe as, slowly, a friendship was formed by Sonic's never-ending chatter and Tails' shy nods. Sonic turned to his mother.

"Mom, can Tails come over to our house to play?"

That's the line that sealed the friendship. During that house visit, a lot of things were discovered. But that's a different story, for another time.

Now, the two of them were teenagers, Tails fourteen, Sonic fifteen, and it was early January. They had started school again just last week. Although Tails was a year younger, they were both in the same class because of Tails' genius, which had moved him a year forwards, and it had been that way since they both started. Of course, they had other friends, but really preferred the company of each other.

It was Saturday, and Sonic was round at Tails' house (they actually lived next door to each other, but were constantly together at one another's houses). Today they were doing what they usually did, laying on their stomachs on Tails' bed, playing video games. Sonic laughed as he sent Tails' character flying off the screen.

"Heh, you're gonna have to try harder than that, buddy!" Sonic grinned. He glanced across at Tails, who was staring at the floor, deep in thought. "Tails, you're not even trying. It's no fun beating up something that doesn't fight back. Tails?" He gave the kit a nudge. "Tails!"

"Hmm? What?"

"Are you playing this game or what?"

Tails sighed, rolling over and tossing his controller to the side.

"I don't wanna play any more, Sonic." Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

"Sonic, we've got homework-"

"You'd rather do homework than play video games?"

"No..." Tails sighed again, sliding off the bed and sitting on the floor. Sonic sat next to him, switching the console off.

"Tails? What's wrong, bro?" Tails shook his head, glancing at his 'Big Brother'. Sonic had started calling Tails 'Lil Bro' when he was seven and the fox was five. They had a closer bond than most brothers, and Tails adored being called 'lil bro' by Sonic, so it had stuck instantly. Sometimes, they just shortened it to simply 'Bro'. Both being the only children in their families, calling each other brother seemed to join them as a family.

"Ohh... It's nothing, Sonic." Tails replied, making circles on the ground with his foot. Sonic tilted his head to the side in a sort of 'Come _on_' face.

"Tails... I haven't known you for ten years without getting to _know_ you. Tell me what's wrong."

Tails shook his head again, more frantically this time.

"It's nothing Sonic, honestly it's not." Sonic sighed this time, reaching over to the backpack he'd brought along, pulling out a thick pile of books.

"Fine. Alright, what first, history or ma-"

"Sonic..."

Sonic turned to Tails, his emerald-green eyes widening as he saw that Tails' own eyes were brimming with tears, which built up, eventually spilling down his cheeks. Tails, though he was sometimes soft, and usually quiet and very emotional, hardly ever cried. But now, he stared helplessly at Sonic, tears flowing down his muzzle, sobs choking him up. Sonic gawped uselessly, as Tails continued to cry, slient apart from several odd, choking sobs.

"...I-it's not... n-nothing, S-Sonic..."

Sonic stared at the ground, sighing.

"Yeah... I kinda guessed that..." He said quietly, turning his head towards the window. He looked back at Tails, who now had his head buried in his arms, crossed around his knees. Sonic reached out, patting Tails awkwardly on one shoulder.

"Tails? Come on Tails, you can't do this without telling me what's wrong. And... I'm sure it can't be _that_ bad."

"It is... y-you'll hate me... e-everyone w-will..."

"Tails. Tails, listen, there's nothing on Mobius that could possibly make me hate you, not after ten whole years of being best friends. We've never fallen out before, so what makes you think this'll completely break us up? And... Even if it is bad, and I do hate you... I won't stop being friends if it means everyone will hate you too... So _tell_ me."

"Oh, Sonic..." Tails raised his head. His eyes were shining with unshed tears, muzzle stained with those before. The teenage kit lowered his head in shame, shame at himself. He sighed deeply, not wanting to admit it at all. Of course Sonic would hate him. Everybody would.

"I'm... I'm gay, Sonic." He whispered bitterly, shuddering as he finally confessed.

* * *

_A/N: I'm sorry if the second part seemed rushed, and that you didn't really get much of an introduction to their teenage lives. That's because I'm going to build up their history throughout the whole story. You know what to do! Little green button down there..._


	2. Out of the closet

Sonic couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Tails was... gay? But... for how long? Since when? Who did he have a crush on? Had he told anyone else? The kit was right though, it _was_ a big deal. An unbelieveably, undescribeably massively gigantic deal. He was right about the other thing too. Well, half right. Sonic couldn't think of a single person they knew – or anyone else, for that matter – who wouldn't hate Tails.

"You hate me." Tails whispered, as if reading Sonic's mind.

"No!" Sonic insisted, shaking his head frantically. "No, of course I don't. But..." He trailed off, not wanting to say it.

"But everyone else will." Tails finished for him. He sighed, pulling himself onto his bed, where he sat down heavily, causing the mattress springs to rattle. Screwing his face up, he wrapped his arms around his middle, moaning softly in pain – more emotional than physical, Sonic assumed – while rocking back and forth slowly.

Sonic felt so sorry for him. He tried to imagine what it would feel like to be a boy and suddenly realise you liked boys instead of girls. How would it feel to know that you couldn't tell anyone, not ever, not even your own parents? If you told anybody, anybody at all, even just some random stranger in the street, you'd be killed. No questions asked, no word of protest. Your own parents, friends, family, they'd all be in the crowd, torturing you. Sonic felt touched that Tails had managed to gather the courage and ask _him_.

Personally, Sonic never saw what the big fuss was about. Some people now who were married, males and females obviously, hated each other. Some married couples couldn't stand being with their partners at all. Yet they were allowed to stay together, whereas gays, who would be in love, were forbidden to even go _that_ far. Was that so wrong?

Sonic didn't hate gays. He didn't hate Tails. He...

Sonic shuffled a little closer to the fox, wrapping one arm round his shoulder and holding the opposite shoulder with his other hand.

"... I d-don't... w-wanna be gay, S-Sonic..." Tails sobbed. He raised his head angrily. "I wish I w-was dead!"

"Don't say that." Sonic said quietly.

"Too late, I already did." Tails responded childishly. Neither one smiled at the joke. Nothing was funny at the moment.

"Tell me more." Sonic said suddenly. He was sure Tails would refuse, sice he didn't reply for a while.

"Well," The kit started, "It just... _happened_. I... woke up in the morning... and... I saw this person for the first time that day... I knew straight away something had changed. I kept on wanting to be near him, and... I mean, I'd looked at him hundreds of times before but I'd never really _looked_ at him. He seemed to... stand out. And his eyes... I... never noticed before how... beautiful they were." Tails could feel himself flushing red. He knew Sonic was probably laughing at him, maybe even disgusted with him, but when he looked at him, the hedgehog had a 'Carry On' look on his face.

Tails swallowed.

"Afterwards... I just couldn't stop thinking about him... It's like every song, every stupid cliché... You don't think of anything else and you just want..." He stopped to sigh. "I found that I blushed scarlet every time he came near me, and I didn't talk to him as often, either. I kept meaning to tell... him... but... I knew that..." He began to sob quietly again, turning his head away. He didn't want Sonic to see him being such a baby all the time. He took a deep breath before carrying on.

"I knew that I couldn't tell my parents, and I didn't want to tell any of our other friends at school. I... I wanted to tell you, though Sonic... I thought you had the right to know..."

"I don't hate you, Tails. I'm glad you told me." Sonic insisted. It was true, but he wasn't sure whether or not Tails believed him. The fox gave a small smile.

"I started to... Have dreams about him... We were always together and..." He glanced up at Sonic, who's expression had changed, was hard to read. "I know what you're thinking Sonic. You think all of my dreams were about him and me having sex. But... most of them were the most romantic things in the world... He held me close to him and whispered things in my ear... I remember a dream where he was kissing me... I couldn't look at him the next day... I kept on getting the urge to kiss him... to kiss..."

"Me." Sonic muttered softly. That single syllable silenced the whole room. No-one said anything in response. Both best friends simply sat staring at each other. Tails gazed longingly into those beautiful soft green eyes, guilt eating away at him from the inside, forcing him to break his gaze.

"I'm so sorry Sonic..." He stammered, tears beginning to slide down his face again.. "I couldn't help it... it just happened and I di-"

"Shh..." Sonic breathed, placing two fingers gently on Tails' lips, silencing him. Then, slowly, he moved his hands slightly and carefully brushed away the stray tears from Tails' face. Tails gave a tiny gasp at the motion, his cheeks once again glowing crimson. Sonic's hands still hovered by Tails' face. The kit's neck suddenly gave a small jerk, causing him to accidently sweep his cheek against Sonic's palm gently.

Tails' warm face stayed cupped in Sonic's hands like that. They stared intently at each other, until Sonic's eyes closed slowly. He leant forwards, his head tilted slightly to the left. He lay his lips on Tails' for exactly four seconds before breaking away again. Tails remained in that position, eyes closed, mouth parted just a bit. His heart thudded against his chest, because he knew that what happened just then was wrong in anyone's eyes, but he couldn't help feeling so... _high_. He felt like he was floating around in some place where everything was quiet and peaceful, where he could do anything he wanted with Sonic and no-one would care.

Tails opened his eyes again, breathing out gently. He smiled at Sonic and lifted his hands to the hedghog's, gently lifting them from his face, simply holding them in his own, clasping his fingers happily.

"...Soni-"

A knock at the door startled both of them. They practically jumped up to the ceiling as the door opened with a slow creak. Jumping apart, they both lay back on their fronts, as if they'd just been playing video games. Sonic even picked up his controller, though Tails was too slow to do the same. Tails' mother poked her head round his door, smiling at both of them.

"Hello, boys. Having fun?" She asked with a smile. Sonic returned it with his own grin.

"Yes thanks, Mrs Prower." Tails ducked his head and nodded.

"Tails?" The kitsune lifted his head again, looking at his mother. He wondered what would happen if she knew what he and Sonic had just been doing. He wondered what she'd say, what she'd do...

"Tails? Honey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, mom, honest." He insisted, tears spilling down his cheeks. He suddenly started sobbing loudly, covering his face with his hands. His mother rushed over, hugging him tightly, stroking the back of his head and rocking him back and forth. Sonic watched awkwardly. He couldn't help feeling the tiniest bit jealous. _He_ wanted to be the one comforting Tails, hugging him like that, telling him that everything was going to be alright.

Even when he knew it wasn't.

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, it was shorter than the last one. I was going to put another scene in from the past, but then realised that the NEXT chapter would need it, otherwise it would be WAY too short. Anyways, that QUITE BIG button down there that's ACTUALLY WHITE, with GREEN WRITING. Last chapter I put the opposite, and Nicend pointed it out. Happy now, Nicend?_


	3. Regular Hate

_A/N: Woah, this story's more popular than I thought it would be. Thanks to everyone who's reveiwed so far!_

* * *

"Sonic! Tails! Can you come down here a minute please?"

Both young children clattered downstairs. Well, Sonic clattered. Five-year-old Tails made his way down the stairs carefully, step by step. Sonic hung around at the bottom, waiting for his best friend so they arrived in the living room at the same time, where their parents were waiting.

"Sit down, you two." Sonic's mom said.

"Your dads want to talk to you," Tails' mother added. The boys sat on the floor, staring up obediantly at their fathers.

"Now then," Sonic's dad started, "We wanted to talk to you about what you will do when you grow up."

"You're both going to get married to beautiful girls and have children. You'll be happy forever if you do that, won't you?"

The boys nodded eagerly.

"So, you'd be very _unhappy_ if you did something different, wouldn't you?"

Both children glanced at each other and nodded again, less eagerly this time. The dads grinned in encouragement.

"There are some people who don't want to be happy. They don't ever fall in love with nice girls and have children. They fall in love with other boys. That doesn't sound very nice, does it?"

"No." Sonic said, seeing that Tails didn't really understand what they were talking about.

"Well, these people should be punished then, right? So we punished these people. Sixty years ago was the last time any man ever said he loved another man."

"What did you do to him dad?" Sonic asked, sounding interested. His father smirked back at him, an almost evil smile.

"I wasn't there personally, son. But I know what happened. They stuck him on a huge pole in front of the whole town. Then they threw things at him. Rocks, bricks, anything really. Anything they could get their hands on quickly."

"They shouted stuff too." Tails' dad added. "They called him names, horrible, nasty names. Then they started throwing other stuff. Knives, mostly. And then, someone got a stick with straw on the end. They set it on fire and threw that. The guy caught on fire and burned to death. Then everyone go-"

"Ame, stop it." Tails' mother snapped, picking her son up. "You're frightening Tails."

The young fox had turned a ghostly shade of pale white and was trembling, whimpering softly.

"You don't need to be afraid, Tails. Just make sure you grow up and be nice so that girls will like you. Ok? That doesn't sound hard, does it?"

Tails shook his head so hard his neck clicked.

***

Tell a young child something, and they will believe you until you set them straight. They'll believe what you said until the day they die, unless someone tells them the opposite, and provides evidence. Since the two boys were given this regular talk about gays, they hadn't been told that it was fine to like other boys. They hadn't been told that because nobody thought that. Everyone had been told the exact same story since the beginning of time, so that's what everybody believed.

Sonic had returned home shortly after Tails' mother had walked in. He couldn't stand sitting there watching them. The house was silent as he stepped inside. He leant against the wall, closing his eyes and sighing. He remained like that for several minutes, one hand resting on his head. He brushed it back through his quills, breathing heavily.

"Mom?" He called out suddenly. "Dad? Anyone home?" Opening his eyes again, Sonic walked slowly over to the kitchen, immediately noticing a piece of paper on the table, held down with a bag of sugar. Sonic picked it up, his eyes scanning down the page. He tossed it aside, watching it flutter to the floor. Something about his parents being out for a while. They'd suggested that he spent the day at Tails' house to avoid being bored.

Tails.

Sonic headed for the living room, dropping down heavily on the sofa. He stared at the opposite wall, green eyes not even focused. All of his thoughts were on Tails. Closing his eyes, Tails' cute face smiled back at him. Some words from long ago echoed in his mind, plus the ones from barely ten minutes ago.

"_I started to... Have dreams about him... most of them were the most romantic things in the world... He held me close to him and whispered things in my ear... I remember a dream where he was kissing me..."_

That was the line that made Sonic realise. He was gay, too. He'd never really thought about it before... he'd had dreams like that too, but he thought it was because his brotherly love for Tails was getting stronger. All of the dreams were fairly mild, simple hugs and light kisses... _How _could he have thought that those were what every best friend did? They were things that boyfriends and girlfriends did; he should know, most of his friends were together in pairs, and they did stuff like that all the time.

As for not noticing that Tails was attracted to him... True, he had been a little quieter recently, but he hadn't noticed the other stuff... Blushing, being near him all the time, staring at him... How could those things have been missed so easily? It didn't make sense.

Sonic had a sudden thought. What if Tails' mother tried to work out why he'd burst into tears ealier, when she came in? What if the kit ended up telling her the truth? Then what would happen? She'd shout at him, probably. Then she'd tell his dad. He'd tell Sonic's parents. They'd end up telling everyone. Sonic and Tails would be chased out of town. Wherever they went, everyone would hate them, they'd be caught eventually, hung in front of everyone, tortured and killed...

Sonic shook his head frantically. They couldn't tell anyone. Especially not their parents. They were on their own. So what if Tails _did _confess to his mom? Sonic began to panic. He needed to go back to Tails' house, but he couldn't just let himself back in and run up to Tails' bedroom, begging him not to tell his mother that they'd kissed earlier. So how could he stop Tails?

"Tails," He muttered under his breath, "Please don't tell anyone anything. Please. They'll hate you, and me. Please..."

***

Tails sniffed, wiping his eyes in embarrassment.

"Are you sure you're alright, honey?" His mother asked. "You know you'll make up with Sonic again, don't you?" Tails blinked, his face blank. "That is why you were crying, isn't it Tails?" She said.

"Oh! Uhh, yeah, that's right... I'm sure we will mom, it was just a stupid argument after all."

She smiled warmly at him, ruffling his hair gently. Then she stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Tails watched her go, then looked around in confusion. He hadn't seen Sonic leave. Tails swallowed. What if Sonic actually did hate him? But then... why had he kissed him? Tails furrowed his brow in confusion. Surely Sonic kissed him for a reason. He wouldn't just do that to make fun of him, would he? Sonic wasn't like that. Or maybe he just did that to get Tails' hopes up, then he was going to tell everyone how Tails loved him. Maybe he'd even twist the story and say that Tails kissed him? Then everyone would be disgusted at Tails...

A loud ringing noise startled Tails. He looked around wildly, snatching his phone up and holding it to his ear.

"Hello? Sonic?"

"Hey Tails. You Ok?"

"Sonic! Sonic, you haven't told anyone have you?"

"Why would I do that? Come on, you trust me don't you?"

Tails felt himself blush. Anyone else wouldn't be able to keep it secret for a minute. So... he must have really been serious about loving Tails then, right? Although he hadn't actually said it.

"Tails? Are you still there? Look, my parents are out, they are all day. Maybe you want to come round for a while?"

"Yes, I'll be there. Now. In a minute."

"Ok."

"Oh, Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

Tails glanced at his door, just to make sure his mother wasn't lurking around outside.

"I love you." Tails whispered. The other end of the phone was silent, so he wasn't sure if Sonic had heard him. But then...

"I know. I love you too, Tails." Then he hung up.


	4. We need to talk

Tails hurried downstairs, ripping his coat from the hook it hung from. He tugged it around him, zipping it up tightly. He turned towards the door, stopping in his tracks when he heard someone calling him. He turned around to see his mother smiling at him from the kitchen.

"Hey mom." He said quickly, desperate to get out and see Sonic.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" She asked, no idea how impatient and agitated she was making her son by asking the simple question.

"I'm going over to see Sonic." Tails said, gripping the door handle impatiently. He shuffled his feet awkwardly, wishing he could just go. But of course, his mother wouldn't let him do that until she knew everything about _why_ he was going.

"Did you two make up again?"

"Uhh, yeah, but... Sonic's kinda waiting for me and umm..."

"I knew you'd make up, Tails! Nothing could seperate you two, could it?"

"Well... no..."

"I'll bet you never fall out again, right?"

Tails smiled, properly this time.

"Yeah. I think we're gonna be closer than ever from now on." He blushed, quickly regretting saying it in case it gave too much away. He hurried out the door, mentally punching himself for being so obvious. Then he smiled again, a full smile from ear to ear at the thought of seeing Sonic again. He couldn't be bothered to walk all the way down the path and around the bush and up Sonic's driveway and all the way _back_ up their path. He jumped right over the hedge, running up the rest of the path and knocking on Sonic's front door.

Sonic opened it almost straight away, as if he'd been waiting for the fox. He looked over Tails' shoulder anxiously, his eyes darting around. He stepped aside to let Tails in, but closed the door slowly.

"Upstairs," He muttered to Tails. The fox blinked, his face blank.

"Go!" Sonic hissed. Tails frowned, about to protest, before realising what Sonic might _possibly_ have in mind. He hurried upstairs, not looking back down at Sonic in case he got mad at him again. The kit continued up until he reached the top, then ran over into Sonic's room. Sonic himself arrived more slowly. He was rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes not meeting Tails'. The hedgehog turned, closing the door quietly behind him. He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead on the door.

"Sonic?" Tails whispered quietly. Either Sonic didn't hear him or he pretended not to, because he remained like that at the door for several minutes before turning around to finally face Tails. Sonic walked over to the bed, sitting on the opposite end to Tails. The kit crawled over, sitting next to him impatiently, waiting for something. Sonic sighed again, turning his head towards Tails. He was beginning to say something when Tails lost patience and leaned forwards. Sonic held his hands up, laying them gently on Tails' chest to stop him.

"Tails, wait..."

Tails' face fell. He instantly felt tears brimming in his eyes.

"You... you don't really like me, do you?"

"What? Tails, come on..." Sonic's hands remained on Tails' chest. He could feel his soft heartbeat pulsing gently against his fingertips. It was so hard _not_ to kiss Tails. Sonic hated having to be the sensible one, who pointed out all of the bad points and refused to do unsensible things. Tails was undoubtably the naïve one, the younger one, the clueless one. He just wanted to rush into things without thinking. Sonic wanted to do that too, but if both of them did, it wouldn't turn out alright. Fate would pull them into impossible situations, where they'd be faced with difficult choices, forced to... Sonic shook his head, knowing he was thinking trash but unable to stop himself, he sighed for the third time in five minutes.

"Look, Tails. You know that's not true and you have no idea how much I want us to be able to do... well, to be _together_, and..." He paused, staring down at the floor, as if asking it for help."We... we need to _talk_ about this, Tails. I wish we could just... but we can't and..." It was no good. He was breaking down in front of Tails. He'd always stayed strong, through everything they'd ever been through when they were young, and a little older, and then in their teenage years; Tails was always the one who gave up easily, who needed help and encouragement. But now the tables had turned. Tails slowly moved closer to Sonic, cautious in case he was snapped at again, but Sonic didn't protest. He let Tails wrap his arms around him and snuggle happily into his middle. Sonic immediately calmed, laying a hand on Tails' shoulder.

"We really should talk about this, Tails."

"I know." Tails mumbled, nuzzling his head a little more, "But I know that what we have to talk about will be about everyone hating us." Sonic squeezed Tails gently to reassure him.

"Tails... There's no point in trying to deny anything. Everyone _will _hate us, and... if they... find out that... we're together, then..." He trailed off, not wanting to be the one that said it. Tails sniffed, tears spilling. Sonic didn't need to say it.

"... I don't want to be killed because of this, Sonic..." He whispered, sobbing. Sonic pulled him up, hugging him tightly to his chest. He attempted to calm the fox and subside his sobs. Surprisingly, even Sonic's embrace couldn't stop Tails from crying.

"Tails," He whispered softly, "Please don't cry. I'm sorry for even mentioning it. "

"But... we can't tell anyone, can we?"

Sonic swallowed hard. He knew he couldn't tell Tails what he wanted to hear. If he did, he'd be lying, and he'd never dream of lying to Tails, even when they were just friends.

"Sonic?"

Sonic. The hedgehog. If anyone found out he was gay, then he'd lose his entire 'Cool, laid-back' reputation. No-one would look up to him, or respect him like they did now. He knew for a fact that most girls at school were crazy about him, even some of the ones that had boyfriends. He didn't want to lose all that. And what about his parents? Not even they'd take his side. But Tails was the most important thing in the world to him, even more important than his parents. He didn't want to lose his best friend and now, his love.

"Sonic, please say something."

"... We... We can't tell anyone, Tails. We're on our own..."

There was a horrible silence as it really started sinking in. They were on their own. No matter what, there was no-one for them to turn to. Tails sniffed.

"But... You will stay with me, won't you, Sonic? I mean, I won't be left on my own?" Sonic shook his head, hugging Tails tightly.

"No. I've always taken your side before, and I will now."

"No matter what happens?"

"Yes. I promise." Tails smiled, snuggling into Sonic happily, his tails wrapped around the hedgehog's middle, as if he was scared he would just walk away. Sonic's hand continued to stroke Tails' head gently.

"You should go home." Sonic said after a while.

"I don't want to go home." Tails insisted. "I want to stay here, with you." Sonic chuckled.

"Your parents will be wondering where you've gone."

"No they won't. Mom knows I'm here, and Dad's not gonna be home for hours yet. I want to stay with you." He repeated firmly. His voice sounded oddly desperate, and he clung to Sonic tighter, obviously not wanting to leave.

Sonic shifted into a more comfortable position, which meant having to lie down on his back, with Tails lying beside him, half sprawled across his chest. Sonic smiled, leaning down slightly to quickly kiss Tails. The fox blinked in suprise, but whined in protest as Sonic pulled away, nuzzling into him in objection.

"Come on, Sonic." He whispered. Sonic rolled his eyes, but let Tails return the favour. After a while, Tails broke away, a mixture of questioning and lust in his eyes.

"...Sonic... Are we ever... going to go, you know... further... than this?" He saw the look in Sonic's eyes. "No!" The kit said hurriedly, "I don't mean _that_ far. It's just..." He sighed, not knowing himself what he meant.

"You mean like this?" Sonic smiled, pulling Tails into a deeper kiss. He didn't know how he got it exactly right, or where he learnt it from. He just did what felt nice, what felt _right, _and Tails follwed along. They eventually parted, Tails' eyes wide, staring up in awe at Sonic.

"Where did you _learn_ that?" He gasped. Sonic grinned sheepishly.

"Heh, I don't know... I just sorta... did it..." Tails' brow furrowed in suspicion.

"You've never had a girlfriend before... Unless you didn't tell me..." Sonic laughed, holding Tails' face in his hands and looking right into his azure-blue eyes.

"Tails. Stop freaking out. I just learnt how to do it right now. I've never had a girlfriend before, and I don't want one. I want _you_." To prove it, he did the same again. Soon, Tails was pulled on _top_ of Sonic, and they lay together, not doing anything but kissing. They were so involved with each other that they didn't hear the front door downstairs open. They didn't hear their names being called. They didn't hear the footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Sonic? Tails? Are you home?"

Both teenagers sprang apart, Sonic hissing several swearwords under his breath. His mother entered the room slowly.

"Oh, you are home." She said cheerily. "Tails, your mother's getting worried about you."

"I guess I should go home." The fox mumbled, hurrying over to the door. He was stopped by Sonic's mother. She peered at him suspiciously.

"Are you Ok, Tails? Your face is a little red." Sonic quickly said something about it being hot, and Tails silently thanked him.

"See you tomorrow, Tails?" Sonic asked hopefully.

"Yeah. See you." The kit answered, turning out of the room and running home.


	5. Dreams can come true

Sunlight streamed through the curtains, rousing the young kitsune from his sleep. Yawning, Tails rolled over onto his other side and opened his eyes, drowzily rubbing them. He had an odd feeling... Like something wasn't right. Slowly, the events of the previous day seeped through the fog of sleep in his brain and he sat upright in his bed, clutching at his head in confusion. Questions stuffed his head, far too many for him to think straight.

Tails rose from his soft bed, a rushing dizzyness instantly taking him over, causing him to fall against the large wooden cupboard that stood against the wall. His stumble against it created much more noise than he would have liked, and his entire body froze in fear of someone downstairs coming up to ask him why he'd fallen on it in the first place. He just wanted to be left alone, at least for a while as he got his head straight and his thoughts organised.

He headed for the bathroom, his steps a little stumbled. The dizzyness was still lingering in his head, and he walked close to the wall to avoid falling into anything else. He reached the bathroom, closing the door behind him quietly. The huge mirror hung in front of him. His reflection was perfectly normal, a little bit sleep-starved, but other than that, as ordinary as ever. Nobody would be able to tell what happened the previous day, would they?

Sighing at the possibility of more questions, Tails pulled of his clothes and stepped into the shower, turning the knob for the water. The hot water splashed down on his body in large, bullet-like drops, so many they felt like one wave. Tails lifted his head to let it fall on his face. The heat was relaxing, the water covering him like a warm hug. He remained standing there for a while, almost able to forget all of the problems and complications in his life right now. Eventually, he washed himself down and stepped out, almost forgetting to switch off the water. The room seemed eerily silent without the gentle swooshing sound of it. His wet fur felt uncomfortably heavy as he pulled a soft, thick towel around his waist and made his way back into his room.

Tails dried himself slowly, rubbing each part of his body several times over. His fur was dry and fluffy afterwards. He smoothed it down as best he could, before searching through the closet for some clothes. Eventually, he picked out his neatest light blue jeans and a smart, yet casual, white shirt. He dressed quickly, walking over to his bedroom mirror to make any adjustments. He straightened his shirt collar and smoothed down his hair, grunting in frustration at the three bangs which refused to smooth down, simply springing back to shape every time, as if laughing at his attempts to flatten them. Tails sighed and gave up, checking one last time that he was neat and presentable.

Then he headed downstairs. He decided against breakfast, and only entered the kitchen to tell his parents where he was going.

"I'm going next door to see Sonic."

His parents barely looked up to nod at him; he was always spending time at Sonic's house, and because he would never worry his parents by going without telling them, it became routine for them to be told when Tails was heading next door.

Tails walked towards the door, smoothing his hair one more time, checking his image in the hall mirror. Then he opened the door, strolling down their front path until he came to the end, taking a sharp U-turn around the hedge that seperated his front lawn with Sonic's, and travelling back up the similar pathway that lead up to Sonic's front door. He rapped on it lightly with his knuckle, standing back and waiting for an answer. It wasn't who he wanted it to be.

"Hello Tails, honey," Sonic's mother said. She treated Tails as a second son, and Tails' mother did the same with Sonic.

"Uhh... is Sonic in?" Tails asked, looking over her shoulder hopefully.

"No, sorry Tails. Sonic's not feeling well at the moment."

"Oh... Did he say why?"

"I think he said something about something that happened yesterday. Made him feel unwell. Do you know anything about that?"

Tails' heart pounded, blood beating in his head.

"Uhh... He... He was fine yesterday... I-I don't know why he'd say that."

Sonic's mother made a 'Hmm' sound in her throat, making Tails nervous in case she knew something.

"It's school tomorrow, isn't it?" She sighed. "I'll bet he's trying to get a day off."

"Will he be coming to school tomorrow?"

"Yes. Even if I have to drag him there myself. I'm not falling for _that_ trick any more."

"Oh, well... Thanks anyway. Bye." Tails waved at her briefly before running back home, trying not to cry. He _wasn't_ going to cry. Not again.

Sonic was avoiding him. Why would he say that something from yesterday made him feel ill? Did it really? Maybe he was just like everyone else, hating gays. He found Tails disgusting and thinking about it made him sick. He'd never speak to Tails again. He'd end up telling someone about it. His mother... she seemed to know that the two of them were hiding something. What if he'd told her?

_Sonic... How could you? Why won't you see me, just for a minute? If you really didn't feel the same way, why did you kiss me and say all that stuff and act like you cared about me?_

Miserably entering his own dull, empty house, he trudged back upstairs and into his room, throwing himself onto his bed face-down. Curling up with his pillow hugged to his chest, he tried hard to fall back to sleep. It would pass some time, anyway. Someone knocked on his door once, but the noise seemed distant. Tails was already being pulled into a deep slumber...

***

Cool grass, swaying in an equally cool breeze. The air was warm, but didn't feel like daytime. Tails couldn't see anything. He opened his eyes, and was surprised when they were met with a purple-blue swirly pattern, and a large round shape, bright white, illuminating the sky. The sky? Tails tried to shift position, but was held by something. He heard a small chuckle, and then some words.

"Hey, hey, where're you going? Stay there." Tails' blue eyes blinked in astonishment. He shifted sideways slightly and was delighted to see Sonic's face close to his own, the hedgehog's arms wrapped around one of his shoulders, holding him tightly.

"Sonic! But I thought... I mean... Your mom said that you weren't go-"

"You're babbling." Sonic murmured in a tuneful voice, grinning warmly. He loosened his grip to let Tails sit up and look around, a baffled expression fixed on his face. They were on a cliff somewhere, long lush grass covering the top where they sat. A deep indigo sky and white moon hung above their heads. There was no sound around them at all. The air was clean and fresh, the breeze utterly soothing when combined with the warm atmosphere.

"Where are we, Sonic?" The fox asked, turning towards the hedgehog who had sat up with him. Suddenly, Tails was pinned to the ground with a yelp, as Sonic climbed on top of him.

"We're right where you want us to be." He answered, laying his face inches above the giggling kitsune's. Tails rolled his eyes.

"Jeez, Sonic, how corny could you get?"

"Stop that. You think it's really romantic." Tails relaxed as Sonic lowered his head to kiss the fox. Their arms were wrapped around each other tightly. Tails sighed happily when Sonic pulled away, and the two remained like that, staring into each other's eyes. Tails was captivated by Sonic's stunning emerald-green orbs, that seemed to glow in the darkness. Eventually they broke their gaze and Sonic rolled back over to the side, Tails nuzzling into his side and closing his eyes.

"I love you, Sonic." Tails whispered, as the hedgehog stroked his head lovingly. Soon the stroking stopped, and everything seemed quiet.

"Sonic?"

The kitsune opened his eyes again. Sonic was no longer by his side. The grass lay flat beside him, to show where the hedgehog had previously been sitting, but the blue teenager was nowhere to be seen. Tails suddenly noticed a golden-orange glowing in the distance. He squinted to try and work out what it was. It looked like... fire. An orange blob seperated from the rest of the glow, flying through the air towards Tails. He jumped out of the way of it as it landed on the grass. He turned to see it was fire, a stick burning with fire on the end. For a moment, it simply lay at his feet, flickering gently. But then, it burst, flaring up into a huge fire, like a wall, in front of him. He could feel the heat on his face, and he could hear... shouting?

"Kill him!" Someone shouted, and they all started chanting it, hundreds of people, walking through the fire like it was smoke.

"Wait!" Tails screamed. "Wh-why are you trying to kill me? I-I didn't do anything wrong?"

"He kissed me!" Sonic spat, appearing at the head of the crowd.

"S-Sonic? Wait, i-it wasn't like that, you _know_ it wasn't!" Sonic scowled, throwing a broken brick at the fox. It narrowly missed his head, flying over him as he ducked out of the way. Tails gasped as more bricks and rocks and fireballs were hurled his way. The kit turned and ran away, ran as fast as he could. His feet pounded on the ground, in tune with his heart, hammering against his chest. Sonic was close behind him, the others not far behind Sonic. A large brick suddenly slammed into the back of Tails' head, making him stumble. His head throbbed with pain, but he refused to let the pain and dizzyness take over. He had to keep running...

Tails froze. He'd come to the edge of the cliff. Below was a black emptiness of nothing. Here was where this place – wherever it was – stopped being a beautiful, romantic place, and became a deathtrap. Tails could either die through this homophobic mob, or by jumping off of this cliff. At least then he wouldn't be _killed_ exactly. Unless they counted himself as the murderer.

"This is a dream," Tails muttered to himself, "so nothing can hurt me. Although that brick did... If I just stand here, they can't hurt me. They can't... I'll wake up... Any minute now..."

Another brick was hurtling towards him. It hit him square in the back of the head. The impact made him lose his balance he staggered on the spot, before falling over the edge, hurtling over the cliff, into the emptiness, falling and falling and falling...

Until he hit his bedroom floor with a thud, waking him instantly. Tails didn't bother to pick himself up. He remained on the floor, clurling himself into a ball, his body shaking with suppressed sobs. The dreams he'd had before, about Sonic kissing him and all of those other things, had come true yesterday.

So what's to say this new dream couldn't come true too?

* * *

_A/N: I'm sorry this chapter was a little eventless, but I needed to shove the story along a bit, cause I realised that the previous four chapters were all still on the day the story began on (Saturday), so I decided to practically skip Sunday in this one, so we could move on to the week, when Sonic and Tails will be going to school! =) Reveiws are cool. *Hint Hint*_


	6. Dating other people

A loud ringing noise filled the empty room. Lazily, a heavy hand was lifted to slap the source of the sound, which happened to be next to a glass full of water, which of course was knocked over by the slow movements of Sonic's wrist. The sound of the glass smashing coaxed a groan of protest out of the half-concious hedgehog. He lifted his head, scratching his quills wearily. The sight of the broken glass and puddle of water on his bedroom floor caused Sonic to realise that maybe he should get out of bed now. Every joint and muscle in his body ached in complaint, making it even more inviting to lie back down and go to sleep again.

"Sonic?!" His mother called up from the stairs, "It's Monday and you're going to school, no matter how ill you say you feel!"

Sonic would have rolled out of his pit and on to the floor like he usually did, if it weren't for the shards of glass scattered everywhere. Sighing deeply, he sat up, throwing the sheets off of him so he wouldn't be tempted to pull them back over his cold body. Stepping cautiously out of bed, he decided to leave the glass where it was and pick it up later. Hopefully his mother would have seen it by then and saved him the job of clearing it up. Instead, he gathered some clothes up and carried them reluctantly into the bathroom.

His reflection in the mirror, glass steamed up from his mother's earlier shower, surprised him. He was usually a little scruffy, a little untidy, it was what made him 'cool' and gave him his charm. It was what all the girls went crazy over him for. But now, his quills stuck out at odd angles, his fur tusselled completely out of shape, his eyes heavy and red, underlined in purple like gothic make-up. Sonic guessed he'd done a lot of tossing in the night. He wet his quills heavily with warm water, smoothed them down and hoped they'd dry in their normal positions. Then, he pulled on his clothes in a hurry and washed as normal.

Sonic tried hard to think of some kind of excuse while he was doing all of this. An excuse he could tell his mother so he wouldn't have to go to school. He pictured her reaction to each one in his head, sighing at each one which would never work. She wouldn't believe him if he said he was ill, he'd pulled that too many times. He couldn't think of any other reason why he couldn't go to school, not any that she wouldn't be angry or concerned about, anyway.

The blue hedgehog sighed once more and hoped that Tails wouldn't be coming to school.

***

Tails switched off his alarm before it even started ringing. He got out of bed straight away and headed for the bathroom. The fox hadn't slept very much at all. Maybe a couple of hours at the most. Nightmares had kept him awake all night. Each time he'd wake up with a start, his fur drenched, and the he'd panic in case he'd done something really embarassing, but it only turned our to be a night sweat, which felt just as horrible. Now, no matter how much he tried to make himself look awake, his eyes sagged and his hair was a mess. Miserably, he trudged downstairs.

His mother's eyes widened as her son plodded half-heartedly into the kitchen.

"Tails, are you Ok?" She asked quietly, taking in her son's heavy eyes and pale face. Tails shook his head, sitting down at the table.

"I didn't sleep well." He mumbled, pouring himself a drink of orange juice and gulping it down. The strong, citrus taste flowed down his throat, refreshing him with its sour flavour. He lowered the empty glass and wiped his arm across his mouth. His mother looked at him with a concerned expression.

"Do you want to stay at home?" She suggested kindly. Tails considered this. If he stayed at home, he wouldn't have to confront Sonic. But... his other friends would get suspicious, because he hardly ever stayed at home. They all knew he quite enjoyed school, and tried to come in as often as possible, even when he was ill. Tails sighed and shook his head. Staying at home over something as small as a lack of sleep would produce questions – more questions than he could answer.

"No, it's fine. I'll go to school." He received a creased smile from his mother, a smile which showed him she thought he was being brave. He gave a weak smile back, scooping books into his school bag as she ran out to the door, because someone had just knocked on it. Tails sighed as his bag threatened to break if he jammed any more books in there. It was pointless taking them anyway, seeing as he hadn't done any homework over the weekend.

"Honey, Sonic's here." His mother announced, poking her head around the door before disappearing upstairs. Tails hauled his bulging rucksack over his shoulder, groaning at the weight. He walked slowly out into the hallway, following Sonic outside. The boys' eyes didn't meet. They didn't communicate at all until they reached the end of their road, when both hedgehog and fox began to spoke at the same time.

"Where were-"

"Tails, are y-"

"Sorry," Tails said. "You first."

"I was just gonna ask if you were Ok."

"I guess." Tails shrugged. "Just... didn't sleep well."

"Why not?"

"Uhh... Weird dreams."

"Oh. Is that what you were going to say?"

"No. I was going to ask where you were yesterday." He paused and turned towards his friend, narrowing his eyes. "Your mom said you were _ill_? Something to do with what happened the day before?"

Sonic was walking with his hands in his pockets, a slight backwards lean in his stride. There was no uniform at their school, and Sonic's clothes were naturally cool,, carefully chosen so it didn't look as if he cared. His quills were slightly untidy, but not so much that he looked too scruffy. Tails felt a hot rush of love just looking at him.

"Well? Where were you yesterday? You didn't tell your mom about us, did you, Sonic?" Tails yelped as Sonic clutched his arm and yanked the kit into a nearby bush for some privacy.

"Sonic! Let go of my arm!" The hedgehog's grip tightened as Tails struggled and tugged desperately.

"Tails!" Sonic hissed into the kit's ear, "Listen to me! Number one, don't talk about it so loud in public. Number two, will you _stop_ accusing me of telling someone about this! And last, if this is gonna work, you've gotta trust me. I told my mom that yesterday because if we start seeing each other alone too often then people are going to get suspicious. Have you got all that?" Tails nodded silently, and Sonic let go of his arm. Tails rubbed it as he faced Sonic.

"I'm... sorry Sonic. I know I should trust you but... It's just so _amazing_. No-one's been gay for sixty years, but here we both are, feeling the same way. It's..." He paused to whisper the next word dramatically. "_Destiny._" Sonic frowned for a second, before chuckling and shaking his head.

"You are _weird,_ Tails. Now c'mon, or we'll be late for school." They withdrew from the bushes, and were met with a shout which caused both of them to turn around in response.

"Hey, Sonic! Tails! Wait!" A black and red hedgehog was running towards them, his quills upturned. He was dressed in black and grey as usual, his favourite colours. Some people called him a goth, but he wasn't exactly; he was just constantly dark and moody. He caught them up, scowling from one to the other.

"You said I could walk to school with you. But you forgot about me, didn't you?" He complained. He'd recently moved house to Sonic and Tails' area, about the only place that wasn't on the school bus route. Sonic had agreed to let Shadow walk with them. The blue hedgheog scowled back at his friend and also rival.

"Sorry, Shadow." He muttered, annoyed that his and Tails' conversation had been interrupted. Shadow looked at the expression on both best friend's faces and frowned at them.

"What were you talking about just now? Because... you stopped as soon as I turned up. It was about me, wasn't it?" Sonic shook his head, remaining as casual as his appearance.

"Nope. We were just talking about homework. I was asking Tails about the answers he got." Tails butted in to the conversation quickly.

"And I was telling Sonic that I don't _have_ any answers because I didn't actually do my homework." Both hedgehogs fell silent, stopping in their tracks and staring at him.

"You haven't done your homework?" Shadow spluttered in disbelief. "_You_? Tails. Haven't done your homework? Not any of it?" Tails swallowed hard, beginning to panic.

"Do you think I'll be in trouble?"

"Hell yeah!" Shadow laughed. "You'll have detentions to last years!" Sonic gave Shadow a shove.

"Leave off, Shadow. Of course you won't get in trouble, Tails. It's the first time you've ever not done homework. They'll let you off with barely a complaint." Tails made a 'Hmm...' sound. He was still sure he'd get into trouble.

For most of the journey to school, the three of them talked about the usual stuff, boring schoolwork and stupid teachers, and the weekend, which caused Sonic to change the subject quickly to the upcoming school dance. Shadow sighed, hands in pockets, kicking at stones on the ground.

"I wanna ask Amy to the dance." He admitted.

"Then why don't you?" Sonic asked. Shadow scowled at him again.

"Because she's too obsessed with _you_." Sonic shrugged, closing his eyes and sliding his hands behind his head.

"Well, I'm not going to the dance with her. She's all yours."

"Then who will you go with?" Shadow questioned. "You don't like any of the girls at school, do you?"

"Yeah, but half the girls at school like Sonic." Tails pointed out. "He could have anyone he wanted."

"What about you then, Tails?" Shadow replied, quickly avoiding the subject of Sonic's popularity. "Who are you asking?" Tails flushed red, immediately developing a stutter.

"Me..? Well... I uhh... I don't really think... I mean... I don't like anyone." Sonic looked at his best friend with a smirk.

"What about Marine?" He grinned.

"Marine?"

"Yeah." Shadow agreed. "It's obvious she likes _you_, Tails. And she doesn't have a boyfriend, does she?" Luckily, Tails was able to avoid the awkward conversation because by this time, they had reached the school gates.

"Hey, there's Knuckles." Shadow said. "I'll ask him about me and Amy, see what he thinks." Sonic nodded vaguely as Shadow ran towards the red echidna standing at the gate. Tails turned to Sonic.

"You don't really want me to go out with Marine, do you, Sonic?"

"Nope. Although... If you don't go to the dance with someone, people might get suspicious. Maybe we should both ask _someone_, even if it's just for the night." Tails sighed.

"Ok..."

* * *

_A/N: Sorry if Shadow seemed OOC. That's just how he is._


	7. Invitations and Rejections

_A/N: Hello. Not much to say about this chapter really. It's a bit uneventful, and a sort of filler chapter again, but I promise that there'll be a lot of action very soon! =)_

* * *

Shadow smirked as Tails shuffled over to the table in the canteen where his friends were sat. They had all almost finished their lunch, even though Sonic had ordered them to eat slowly so that Tails wouldn't be left alone.

"You're still alive then?" Shadow joked.

"Shut up, Shadow." Sonic growled. He turned to Tails.

"So? How'd it go?"

Tails sat down next to Sonic, beginning to pick at his lunch tray half-heartedly.

"It was ok... She just made me do the work I'd not done. I didn't finish it, actually, but she let me go early."

"Teacher's pet." Knuckles and Shadow muttered together. Sonic shot them an annoyed glare.

"Of course she wouldn't keep Tails behind for the whole of lunch." Sonic said. "It is the first time he's ever got a detention, after all."

Tails sighed. He hoped that his parents weren't informed about his luchtime detention. They'd be so disappointed in him. And they'd want to know why, too. The fox vowed never to forget his homework again.

"Hey," Sonic said suddenly, "Where's Amy?" Knuckles smirked and nodded towards the next table over, where Amy was seated with her friends, Cream the rabbit and Rouge the bat, Knuckles' girlfriend.

"She's sitting over there to avoid Shadow." The echidna told him with a smirk. He paused before continuing. "He asked her to the dance." Sonic's eyes widened as he spluttered with supressed laughter. Shadow sank down in his seat, turning crimson for the first time ever.

"She said _no_?" Sonic laughed. "_You_ got turned down by _Amy_?" Shadow suddenly stood up, his hands slamming down on the tabletop.

"Shut it, Faker!" He yelled, silncing the whole canteen. "She only said no because of her stupid obsession with you!" Sonic also stood up, slowly and calmly. He faced his rival, making sure to look over at Amy before saying clearly:

"I do not like Amy any more than a friend. As far as I'm concerned, she can marry you. I will _never_-" He shot a glance at Amy again, "- Want to go out with her in any way." The blue hedgehog took his seat again, continuing with his lunch. Shadow sighed, gathering up his things and exiting the room quietly. Amy left less quietly, hurrying away in the opposite direction to Shadow.

"I guess I'll go too." Knuckles muttered, running out quickly. Sonic and Tails looked at each other, both trying not to start laughing again. Tails suddenly noticed Sonic's eyes flicker, their gaze focusing on the space over Tails' shoulder. Tails turned, jumping a little in fright as he noticed a small orange raccoon standing right next to him. She smiled sheepishly at him.

"Uhh... Marine?" Tails said wearily. Marine was the new kid, she'd just moved from a different part of Mobius, so her accent was strangely different. Not many people liked her; they found her too weird and annoying. She only had one friend, Blaze, a cat who was given the task of showing Marine around the school on her first day. Like most kids, Blaze hated Marine at first, but now they were quite close as friends. Well, since Blaze got a boyfriend, they'd been a little less close.

"Umm... Tails, mate, I was uhh..." She turned around a little to glance over at Blaze for encouragement. The cat was sitting with Silver, her boyfriend, talking. She was totally unaware Marine needed her help. "I was... wonderin'..." She continued, slowly facing Tails again, "If... you'd maybe... go to this dance thing with me..?" Tails could hear Sonic sniggering behind him. The fox rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Uhh... well, Marine... I um... I kinda already... sorta... have someone to go with. Sorry." Marine's face fell, turning quickly into a scowl. Tears brimmed in her eyes, but she forced herself to ignore it.

"W-Well..." She screeched, "I was only kiddin' anyway! Who'd wanna go anywhere with _you_?" She turned and ran away, crouched low out of embarrassment. Sonic grabbed Tails' arm, twisting the fox's body so he was forced to face him.

"What did I say ealier?" Sonic hissed. "You were supposed to say _yes_. And what the hell do you think you were doing, telling her you had someone to go with? What would you have said if she asked who? And now you've got to find someone to go with to prove you weren't lying!" Tails wrenched his arm free from Sonic's grip.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "But I don't _want_ to go to the dance with Marine! You're supposed to go with someone you like, not someone you find positively irritating!"

"Which is exactly why she asked you!" Sonic retorted, being the fifth person to storm from the canteen in a rage.

Tails sighed and finished his lunch alone.

***

Tails took a deep breath, stepping forwards slowly. Sonic was standing not too far away, making sure that Tails did what he'd been told. The fox swallowed, approaching Marine with caution. Blaze stood between him and the raccoon, making it harder for him to talk to her.

"Umm... Marine?" He said quietly. Blaze whipped around, glaring in the fox's face.

"Leave her alone, Tails. She doesn't want to talk to you!" She gave the kit a small shove, trying to get him to go away.

"No, wait! I just wanted to ask Marine if..." He squeezed his eyes shut to block out the image of Sonic from his mind. "If she wanted to go to the school dance with... me." He sighed, staring at the floor. Marine dodged around Blaze to get to Tails.

"Really? Y-you mean it, mate?" She said in disbelief. Tails remained facing the floor, but his eyes looked sideways at her.

"Yes," He muttered through gritted teeth. "I was being... selfish ealier. I... I'm sorry." Marine's eyes lit up, a wide grin spreading across her face as she tried to keep herself from leaping on him.

"Thanks! Thank you, Tails! But uhh... what about the other Sheila you said you was goin' with?" Tails shot a quick glance at Sonic.

"Oh," He sighed, "I'm sure they'll get over it."

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, sorry for it's short-ness. Oh yeah, you know where it said Marine came from a different part of Mobius? I very nearly put "Australia". Oops... =P_


	8. Black Out

_A/N: A lot of people have been asking me whether or not Sonic and Tails have all their skills in this story - eg. Speed, flight, etc. This chapter explains all. And I'm sorry for being away for almost a month without an update. Extremely clever people will find a tiny little bit of suggestiveness in this chapter - but you have to look veeeerrrry carefully ;D_

* * *

Tails gave a small whine of disappointment as the bell trilled through the entire school building, signalling the end of the current lesson and beginning of the next. Sonic grinned at his best friend's sigh as his favourite lesson finished.

"You do realise," Sonic told him as they all gathered their books and headed for the door, "you're the only kid in the whole school who loves physics class." Tails shot an pitying glance at the hedgehog.

"I'm sure I'm not." He replied. "And I don't care anyway. There's nothing wrong with liking physics."

"Nope." Knuckles agreed, falling in step alongside his friends. He paused, as if in thought. "It _does_ mean that you're a nerd, though." Sonic clenched his fists.

"Shut it, _Knux_." He growled through gritted teeth. Knuckles frowned awkwardly and shuffled away to catch up with Shadow, who was walking a few paces in front to avoid Sonic.

"Thanks, Sonic." Tails whispered. His hand automatically reached out towards him, perhaps to take his hand. Sonic snatched his own hand away quickly, before Tails could take it by accident. The hedgehog stared wide-eyed at Tails, as the fox looked at the floor, his cheeks glowing in embarrassment.

"We should get to class." Tails mumbled, hurrying toward the locker rooms to get changed into his T-shirt and shorts for games. As he walked into the room, the air humid with the thick heat, Tails' heart began to pound in fear. He'd never really thought about it before, but... What if he got a sudden urge to take a look at one of the other boys? Tails swallowed, pulling off his shirt and replacing it quickly. He was glad to see Sonic amble over to the other side of the room to get changed. He hurriedly swapped jeans for shorts and ran out of the room before he did something he may regret later. The fox began making his way towards the running track.

Tails had never been good at running. He knew exactly _how_ he could get to be be good at it, but no matter how hard he tried, his legs always collapsed beneath him, his chest tightened and sweat drenched his entire body. And that was after barely two minutes. By the time the finish line bobbed into veiw, he could hardly gather the strength to drag himself across it. His clothes were always heavy with sweat, making him feel disgusting, but it didn't feel as bad as his chest. Like he'd swallowed a brick whole. There was also the ripping agony which forever tore itself through his sides. Tails groaned just thinking about it as Sonic caught him up on the way to the track.

"So, Tails. Looking forward to racing today?" Tails groaned again, kicking at the ground.

"I feel sick." He muttered, and it was true. He always got that horrible churning feeling in his stomach before running. Sonic tried to comfort him with a sympathetic smile, but Tails knew Sonic didn't understand at all. Sonic ran for _fun_. He could go forever, it seemed, without getting the least bit out of breath. And his _speed_! He flashed by everyone else, travelling incredably fast. Nobody could believe how fast he ran, neither could they deny it. He was just one of those people who had an unexplainable talent. Most people respected him, nearly all the girls loved him for it, but some were jealous. Namely, Shadow. He was convinced he was faster than Sonic, even though he'd never actually beaten him in a race before.

As the entire class of boys hearded out onto the race track, they all lined up on instruction from the coach. Tails swallowed hard. He always came last in every race and should have been used to it by now, but it was still humiliating staggering along way behind everyone else.

All ten boys crouched to the ground. At the sound of the whistle, nine of them leaped into a sprint. Tails tried to, but ended up tripping and stumbling his way into a slow jog.

"Prower!" Coach bellowed at the fox, startling him. "Pick up the pace!" Tails clenched every muscle in his body and forced himself forwards. He worked his legs furiously, arms snapping back and forth. Lifting his head, Tails saw the blurred image of nine boys ahead of him, all effortlessly running further and further away, some already across the finish line. Seven seconds after the ninth racer finished, Tails lurched across the line, instantly collapsing onto the ground. He smothered his burning face in cool grass as he struggled to regain his breath, choking from lack of air.

Tails pulled himself up into a sitting position and watched the other racers line up for the next race. Since they were competing, the person to come last would be disqualified from the rest of the races. The last two (who would – as always – be Shadow and Sonic) would then run against each other to determine the overall winner (who would – as always – be Sonic). Tails didn't see the point. He didn't complain though, because that meant he only had to run one race per lesson – a reward rather than punishment for coming last, it seemed to him.

The current race ended, and the second last-comer dragged himself to the ground, away from both the track and Tails. The fox watched him sit, before switching around to sit cross-legged. He tugged at some grass as he watched the remaining racers dwindle down slowly. Sonic never lost first place, keeping at a steady speed throughout every race. He wasn't even trying very hard.

Tails' head cocked to the side slightly as he watched the blue hedgehog with interest. He made running look so easy (although that may have been because it _was_ easy for him). Tails was mesmerised by the hypnotic swaying of Sonic's lean legs, his feet barely pounding the ground as he sweeped along the track. His arms pumped with strength, barely a bulge along both arms. His legs were also quite slim, not half as muscly as most other boys, but twice as powerful. Tails breathed heavily as his concentration slipped to Sonic's chest. He'd... never seen it before. Well, probably when he was little – yes, he must have done; the two young boys were always sharing baths and running around in the hot summers in nothing but shorts. But he hadn't felt _this way _back then. Tails suddenly longed to turn back time and share one more bath with Sonic.

Drawing his knees to his chest, Tails continued to stare at Sonic. He watched the hedgehog win yet another race, punching the air without a trace of modesty, grinning in triumph at his competitors. There was no sweat on his shirt, no heavy rising and falling of his chest as he struggled to gain his breath, no pain at all. How? How could he find running so easy? And how come he wasn't bulging with muscles? He did a lot of involantary exercise out of school hours. Tails had never even seen him sit still. Didn't anything, anything at all, tire him out? Maybe...

Tails gasped, dismissing the thought from his mind as he curled his tails around his front quickly. His cheeks by this time had returned to normal colour as he cooled down, but now they burned scarlet once more.

"Tails?" Sonic pulled his best friend to his feet. "The lesson's over now. Come on." He looked suspiciously at the fox. "Why..." he began, but decided to leave it as they headed back to the school building to get changed. Tails got changed quickly, throwing his bag over his shoulder when he was done. Turning around to head for the door, he suddenly noticed Sonic on the other side of the room, standing in nothing but shorts. With a gasp, Tails was overwhelmed with dizziness, and fell towards the floor.

The next thing he knew, he was being hauled up from the cold tiles by Sonic – who was now, luckily, fully-dressed.

"...Sonic..?"

"Careful, buddy. You blacked out there for a few seconds." The blurred image of a crowd of jeering boys around him came into Tails' veiw. He felt embarrassed, but relieved that they didn't figure out _why_ he'd fainted in the first place. Tails couldn't believe that Sonic could actually cause him to pass out. He eased himself out of Sonic's grip.

"Sonic, I'm fine, honest." Sonic didn't look too sure, but he could see Tails didn't want to talk about it: not now, at least. Instead, he nodded as the fox collected all of his things up. Games was the last lesson of the day, so Sonic and Tails – along with an unwanted and still irritated Shadow – headed home.

Tails walked between the two hedgehogs to prevent any kind of fight, although neither seemed to have any interest in each other at all. Sonic gave Tails a concerned glance of question, receiving a small smile in return.

Eventually, Shadow turned swiftly around a corner, and headed the other way without saying anything. Tails stepped closer to Sonic, a smile spreading across his face. Sonic looked down at him, and they both giggled uneasily as their eyes met.

"So," Sonic said as they approached their houses, "who's house?"

"Yours." Tails answered. He loved Sonic's house – though he wasn't sure why. He liked feeling welcome into somewhere he didn't live. He didn't like it when Sonic came to his house, because he didn't like feeling 'In charge'. Dominant.

"Drink?" Sonic asked, opening up the fridge. Tails thanked him as he was handed a can of soda. The fox snapped open the can and took a few gulps, before lowering it and wiping his mouth. Tails gave the can to Sonic, who swigged a little and tossed the can into the bin. Then, without warning, he fell against Tails, pushing him backwards into the wall, and kissed him. Tails, after quickly recovering from the sudden surprise, wound his arms around Sonic's neck and willingly accepted the kiss. Sonic's hands began to wander, his right roaming through the fur on the back of Tails' head, his left tugging gently at the thick fur of his tails.

"Don't." Tails muttered, pulling away to push Sonic's hands off of his tails.

"Why not?" Sonic asked quietly, immediately grabbing hold of them again.

"_Because_," he firmly dragged the hedgehog's hands off again, "I don't like my stupid tails and I'd rather forget they were there at all."

"Why don't you like them?"

"They don't _do_ anything. I'd like them if they let me fly or something."

"But they're your best feature." Sonic argued, brushing through the long fur with his fingers. Tails raised his eyebrows.

"So... you're in love with my tails, then? Not me?"

"Oh, shut up." Sonic chuckled, laying his lips against Tails' again, and again, and again. Eventually, Tails pulled again, breathless, his arms still wrapped tightly around the hedgehog's neck. They remained there for some time, Tails finding it hard not to melt on the spot as he gazed dreamily into Sonic's emerald-green eyes. Sonic gently brushed his hand through Tails' hair, sweeping across his velvety ears.

"So. Are you gonna tell me why you fainted earlier?" Tails flushed red, shuffling his feet awkwardly.

"Uhh... it was... too hot?"

Sonic cocked his head to the side.

"Come _on_."

"But it's stupid..."

"I won't laugh."

Tails sighed.

"Ok." He mumbled unhappily, breaking his gaze with the hedgehog. "It's because... _you_... were too hot." His voice trailed off as his cheeks flared. Sonic didn't say anything, so Tails assumed that was an invitation for him to continue. "When you... were getting changed... I was _trying _not to look at you by accident, but..."

"You fainted because I was half-dressed?" Sonic mumbled in disbelief.

"Well... it was... pretty arousing..."

"You mean that-" Both boys froze as the click of a key in the door interupted them. Sonic leaped towards the fridge, burying his face in the cold, pretending to search for food while Tails stood wearily and mumbled a hello to Sonic's mother as she entered the room.

_Damn it... why are there always parents around..?_ Sonic thought angrily. _There must be somewhere we can go to be alone._

"Hey, mom." He said, emerging from the fridge empty-handed. He turned to his secret lover. "Say, uhh, Tails, are you're parents home?"

"Not until six. Why?" Sonic grabbed Tails' arm and pulled him out of the house, heading towards the next house over, pausing only to yell 'Goodbye' at his mother.

* * *

_A/N: I can never think of a good way to end these chapters... Anyway, review please! Did you spot the suggestiveness? =3_


	9. Love Bites

Tails stretched, sighing as the loud alarm clock sent a buzz through his skull, jolting him awake. Reaching out to switch it off, Tails suddenly felt an odd throbbing at the base of his neck. Wincing, he lifted his hand to rub at the pain in an attempt to soothe it. He pulled his hand away quickly as his fingers caused a sharp pain to erupt across his neck.

Tails' heart began to thud as he stated to panic.

_Calm down_ he scolded himself as he leapt from his bed and ran towards the bathroom quickly, _It's just a morning twinge._

However, the mirror told him otherwise. Tails gasped at the large purple ring glowing against his skin, made up of two U shapes, points almost touching. The young fox's face fell as he traced his fingertips across the base of his neck where the odd mark lay. It looked to him like teeth marks, although it wasn't serrated or engraved; it looked like somebody had drawn on his neck with purple pen, though the pain ruled that possibility out.

A sudden startling image of Sonic swept across Tails' mind, and, as he closed his eyes, he could feel the hedgehog's warm lips press against his neck. There was one particular spot... towards the base of his neck, just above his collarbone. He remembered Sonic's teeth nudging it gently.

For a split second, Tails panicked; what if they'd gone further than that last night? No, Sonic was only around his house for an hour or so, and they spent that hour kissing. Nothing but kissing. And vampire activity, it seemed.

Tails swallowed. How would he cover up the mark Sonic had left whilst hungrily sucking at his best friend';s neck? It was too far up to be hidden under his shirt collar. Scarves were not allowed to be worn during lessons at school. If anybody saw it, they'd ask questions. He couldn't say he'd had _Marine_ round the previous night, because she'd know he was lying. He couldn't say he'd had a different girl round, either. Although he didn't particularly like Marine, he wouldn't want to hurt her feelings by letting her think he was already cheating on her.

Running back into his bedroom, Tails snatched up his phone and quickly dialled Sonic's number. It was past 7:30 so the hedgehog would be awake, at least. After a couple of rings, Sonic answered.

"Hn... Hello?" Sonic sighed, his voice heavy with sleep. Tails could hear the hedgehog's mother in the background, yelling at her son to get out of bed _now_, or face the consequences.

"Sonic, it's me." Tails hissed.

"Tails? What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"Tell me, Sonic. Were you hungry last night?"

"What? Hungry..?"

Tails sighed, irritated. "Just get over here."

"Now?"

"Yes."

"But it's not even eight o'clock!"

"_Now_!"

Tails hung up, tossing his phone to the side and dropping back down onto his bed, running his hands through his hair in desperation.

"Tails?" His mother called suddenly from the other side of the door, "Are you awake in there?"

Tails slammed his hand over the bite on his neck.

"Uhh... yeah. I'm just... getting dressed." He listened hard, waiting for her to leave so he could relax again. Then, Tails pulled on his clothes, almost bursting into tears as he rooted miserably through his shirts, failing to find one which would cover the loving mark.

_Damn it, Sonic! If I didn't love you so much..._ He tried to think of some kind of insult or punishment for the hedgehog, but ended up uselessly with a longing to hug him instead.

He listened as his mother answered a knock at the door. She sounded surprised to see Sonic so early, not without reason; he usually didn't come before 8:30 and it was now not even ten to.

"Tails asked me to come early," Sonic told her coolly. "About some homework?" A few minutes later, Sonic knocked lightly on the bedroom door. Tails muttered "Come in" and faced away from the door as Sonic pushed it open gently, closing it once more as he stepped into the room.

"Tails?" He said quietly. "What's this all about? What did you mean by 'Were you hungry last night'?"

"I just wondered why you got the sudden urge to try and sink your teeth into my neck." Tails replied, facing him and removing his hand from around his neck. Sonic's eyes widened. He took a slow step forwards, resting his hand on Tails' neck and tracing his fingers along the mark. Tails shivered under Sonic's light touch, pushing the hedgehog's arm away.

"So... That was me? Sonic breathed in disbelief. Tails nodded gloomily. "I'm sorry, Tails. I don't even remember doing it."

"Just be glad you didn't do anything else." Tails muttered, pulling his collar up over the mark and holding it there. "How am I gonna cover it up, Sonic?"

"Well... you must have something with a big enough collar." The hedgehog began searching through Tails' shirts and jackets, pulling a few out and holding them up to Tails' chest, throwing each one to the side as the collars failed to reach high enough.

Both were ready to give up when Sonic tugged out a jacket with a high collar. Tails reluctantly pulled it on and zipped it up all the way. It completely covered the wretched mark.

"Perfect!" Sonic grinned. Tails shook his head.

"I hate this jacket." He said. "Why do you think it was shoved right at the back? It looks horrible and feels horrible too." The inside of the garment was lined with some weird kind of material which turned his fur static, causing it to sick to the jacket.

"It'll have to do." Sonic told him gently. "We're going to be late." He lay a reassuring hand on Tails' shoulder, passing him his school bag. Swinging it over his back, Tails followed Sonic out of the door.

The jacket did its job. Nobody in the whole school saw Sonic's teeth marks. The only time anyone made Tails panic was during history class, when the teacher asked Tails to lower his collar.

"Having it up like that is not formal." He insisted firmly.

"I can't, Sir," Tails said quickly as inspiration hit him. "The zip's jammed." Luckily, he wasn't pursued further.

After a week or so, the mark faded enough for Tails to say it was just a bruise or something, and he took the jacket off, telling Sonic to never do that again. Though the next time they were alone and Sonic's mouth left Tails', travelling down across his jaw and onto his neck, the fox didn't stop him, and Sonic ended up getting carried away again. This time, though, the bite mark glowed a little lower, below Tails' collarbone, and was - luckily - much easier to hide.

_We're getting too carried away,_ Tails thought as Sonic grew impatient at school and dragged the fox into the toilets to kiss him instead of wisely waiting until they got home. _We're not being careful enough,_ He worried, though didn't voice his concerns to Sonic, for fear of being on the receiving and of Sonic's anger.

When it turned late, the boys returned to their own homes (depending on whose house they were in, anyway). Some nights they talked on the phone. One particular night, around three weeks after getting together, Tails tried to ring Sonic, only to find his own phone had no battery left. With permission from his parents, he used the upstairs house phone to ring Sonic about 'Homework'. Although the fox remained alert and on the lookout for his parents so they wouldn't overhear his conversation, he never thought about the fact that one might pick up the phone downstairs.

He didn't think about the fact that if someone did that, they would overhear his conversation.

He didn't hear his mother do exactly that.

She picked up the receiver and held it to her ear, getting ready to dial the number she wanted when she heard those three words.

"I love you."

Then, with a small 'bye', her son put down the phone, sending the dialling tone echoing through the silence.

* * *

_A/N: For anybody who didn't understand that, if you have two phones in the house that are both wired to the same line, and you pick up one phone while the other is in use, you can hear the conversation on the other phone._


	10. Fall Out

_A/N: ... uhh... hey! Remember me? *Dodges sharp objects thrown by angry mob* Hey! I'm sorry! I know it's been two months without an update, but Writer's Block takes time to ease off! Anyways, I guess a lot of people have been waiting for this chapter (in fact, I know they have because I have a lot of messages on different websites chasing me down for a new chapter). Some people even asked me if it was discontinued. Of course not! I wouldn't leave such a popular story to wither away in time, especially when I have some great ideas for it right up to the last chapter._

_Although I'm not making promises that I may break, expect much more frequent updates from now on.  
_

* * *

"Tails! Can you come down here please?"

Tails hurried downstairs at his mother's command. Walking into the kitchen where dinner was laid out on the table, he sat down at his place, both of his parents sitting opposite him. The teenager was completely unaware of his parents' odd expressions. They waited a while, watching him eat, before glancing at each other.

"Tails." His mother said. Tails looked up. She sounded like she was going to say something serious. He swallowed his current mouthful before answering.

"Yes?" Tails began to panic. Why were his parents looking at each other like that? His mother coughed uncertainly.

"Tails... Is there something... you want to tell us?"

"No." Tails replied, his voice barely a whisper. He hated lying to his parents, although, technically, what he'd just said wasn't a lie – he certainly didn't want to tell anyone about his secret relationship with Sonic. "Why? Is there something you want to know?"

"Well..." Mrs Prower muttered, staring down at the plate in front of her rather than up at her son. "You see... I heard you on the phone earlier..." The colour completely drained from Tails' face. He froze, heart skipping several beats.

"You... heard me..?" He gulped, his throat dry. "H- how much?"

"You said 'I love you' to someone, then put down the phone." His father spoke up. "Apparently," he added quickly, since he hadn't actually heard his son say it.

"S-so you didn't hear anything else?" Tails gulped. If his parents had heard even one more sentence of his phone conversation, he may as well have been dead. He sat absolutely still, watching as his mother folded her arms across her chest.

"Tails. You've obviously been talking to a girl over the phone." Tails' eyes widened as he flushed red.

"A... a girl?" Tails stuttered in disbelief. He was about to protest when he realised that he had an easy way out of a difficult situation. "I uh..."

"It's okay, honey," his mother insisted, her eyes softening, "but it would be nice if you told me who you were really talking to." Tails nodded quickly.

"Sorry, mom." He dropped his fork and stood up. "Can I be excused?" he asked politely.

Tails ran upstairs and picked up the phone, his heart thudding at how close he had just come to severe danger. Reaching into his pocket, the fox pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper and quickly dialled the number which was scrawled on it, rolling his eyes at the little heart scribbled at the end. After a couple of rings, Marine answered on the other end.

"G'day!" Tails slammed down the phone immediately, groaning in disbelief. Did Marine talk like that deliberately? Why couldn't she just say "Hello" like everyone else? The only reason Tails had rung in the first place was so that Marine's number would be the last one he called in case his parents pressed the 'Redial' button. He didn't expect his parents to suspect him that much, but he couldn't take the risk.

_Sonic, you have no idea how close we just came to being rumbled, you know_, The fox thought to himself with a sigh. _I guess I should tell him..._

Tails headed downstairs slowly. Reaching for his coat, a sudden noise behind him made him freeze. He turned his head and lowered his arm at the sight of his mother stnding above him.

"I'm going to see Sonic," Tails said quietly, still not sure of the look on his mother's face. "Is... that okay?"

"No," his mother replied, a slight smirk on her face. "You're grounded for lying to us."

"Grounded! For how long?"

"Until," Tails was tugged into the front room by his arm, "you've told us everything about your new girlfriend."

Tails groaned aloud.

***

As well as being grounded, Tails was forbidden to use the home phone, and restricted to his own phone, which, at the moment, wouldn't work.

So it wasn't until the next day that Tails got a chance to tell Sonic what happened. He had decided to inform his best friend as they walked to school, during the short four minutes they had alone before meeting up with Shadow for the remaining walk to school. However, when Sonic arrived in the morning, a little later than usual, he was already accompanied by a grimacing Shadow.

"What's he doing here?" Tails hissed to Sonic when the ebony addition was out of earshot.

"He turned up at my house half an hour ago," Sonic replied, not an ounce of joy in his answer. "Said he had to come early for some reason. I wasn't really listening." Tails shot an annoyed glance at the oblivious Shadow.

"But I really need to talk to you," Tails pushed desperately. Sonic was about to reply to the anguish in Tails' eyes when Shadow appeared right next to them, scowling.

"Are we going now?" he growled in annoyance, unaware at how irritated his friends were at him for arriving early. Without saying a word, Sonic glared at him as he stormed silently toward the door, yanking it open and stamping outside. Tails coughed awkwardly as his eyes met Shadow's, hurrying quickly after Sonic.

They didn't get any time alone until lunchtime, when the two of them drifted away from the rest of their friends and their usual gathering place and stood behind the main school building.

"Okay, what's on your mind?" Sonic pressed. "You'd better make it quick because this area gets flooded with smokers at lunchtime." Tails nodded and immediately told Sonic what had happened the previous night, keeping his voice low just in case.

"So she _doesn't_ know?" Sonic asked when Tails had finished.

"No. I told her I was ringing _Marine_. But now I'm grounded so I can't come round and see you. I don't know when I'll be allowed out again."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, she can't stop me coming round to your house." Tails' eyes narrowed.

"You're not concerned about this at all, are you, Sonic?" He whispered in disbelief.

Sonic sighed and pulled himself away from the wall. "It was a false alarm, nobody found out and everything's back to normal. There's nothing to be concerned about." Tails averted his eyes away from Sonic's, staring at the ground.

"Do you have any idea how afraid I felt last night?" Tails hissed. "I thought... she knew... I thought it was all over, I thought we were going to be _killed_!" Tails went silent, freezing on the spot and breathing heavily. Sonic remained casual, his arms folded, an indifferent look in his smooth green eyes.

"You are _unbelievable_!" Tails spat, turning away from the hedgehog and trudging back to the outside bench where his other friends were chatting quietly. None of them said a word to the fox as he dropped heavily onto an empty space on the bench, sitting with his back turned away from the place he'd left Sonic. In his immediate view was a group of girls, including Marine and Amy with some of their other female friends. One of them said something which caused the other girls to squeal excitedly and all rush towards the same girl to hug her simultaneously.

Tails frowned at this action. Why was it that girls could be so affectionate to each other, when boys couldn't? Why didn't the stories about past gays ever mention two females being in love? Girls said they loved their friends all the time, and they were always huddled close together, hugging and the like. If any boys did that to each other, they'd undoubtedly be beaten up by their own friends.

Tails sighed, letting his chin fall into his hands as he thought hard.

"Tails, mate?"

The fox lifted his head to answer Marine, when he noticed Sonic to his left, watching the two of them.

"Hey, Marine..." He began, dragging his attention away from the hedgehog. "... You want to come to my house some time this week?"


	11. Urgent thoughts

_A/N: Okay, I'm starting with a little nag here. Please, STOP sending me messages asking me when I'm going to update this story. I'll never just leave it incomplete forever; I have far too many good ideas for it to let that happen, and I do have a life besides writing, you know! Also, how come four out of six of the messages I received were from people I'd never even heard of? Messages saying, "Please update TTW, it's one of the best stories I've ever read on FF!" If it's that great, why don't you ever reveiw tellling me you love it and want to see more updates?_

_So, another little chapter here~ Not filler exactly, but not much solid plot, either. Don't worry, things will be getting very dramatic within the next chapter or two, I promise!__  
_

* * *

Sonic clutched his pen tightly in his hand, lowering it slowly toward the sheet of paper which lay in front of him. The answer boxes on his homework paper were all blank, and had been since Sonic miserably pulled his large pile of untouched homework out of his bag an hour and a half ago.

_TailsTailsTailsTailsTailsTailsTails..._

"Ugh!" Sonic yelled in frustration, slamming his head onto the desk. He clenched his fists at the same time, causing the plastic case of his pen to crack, the sharp edges of broken material scratching his skin. Tails had been the one single thing on his mind since lunchtime.

_Why I am I always such a jerk?_ Sonic thought to himself, full to the brim with hot rage and self-loathing. Tails had been really upset over what had happened with his mother, yet Sonic had been more _pathetic_ than sympathetic. He knew for a fact Tails didn't want to see him. The fox hadn't said a single word to his 'best friend' since calling him unbelievable. All through afternoon classes, he'd sat with his back turned stubbornly toward the hedgehog, concentrating fiercely on his work, though Sonic could see it was an effort for him to not glance briefly at Sonic.

When it was time to begin the walk home, Tails hurried swiftly ahead, walking at a slightly quicker pace than Sonic and Shadow. Shadow, of course, found this a brilliant opportunity to stick his nose where it wasn't wanted, and made the most of his short time alone with Sonic by sneering at the two's failing friendship. Sonic refused to let himself get infuriated by Shadow, of all people.

_Tails is just a little upset,_ he told himself sternly. _By tomorrow, this whole thing would've blown over, and we'll be back to normal again_

By the time Shadow had disappeared down his own street, Tails was already hurrying up his garden path and into his house, slamming the door behind him dramatically.

Sonic had retreated to his own house to take his mind off the whole thing with homework. Except, of course, it hadn't worked. Sighing, the teenage hedgehog rose from his chair. He still doubted whether or not going to see Tails was a good idea; after all, the fox was already angry enough without Sonic interfering and screwing things up even more. On the other hand, things weren't going to sort themselves out.

Within minutes, Sonic's legs were being controlled by the overwhelming sense that he _must_ see Tails, and he was rapping lightly on the fox's front door with his knuckle. His knock was answered by Tails' mother, who invited him in and called up to her son to tell him Sonic was here to see him. Tails didn't reply.

"I haven't heard a thing from him all afternoon," the fox's mother told Sonic with a sigh. "He's so quiet nowadays..." Sonic mumbled something in agreement and hurried upstairs before he could be asked once again if he happened to know what was troubling Tails. Taking a short moment to compose himself, Sonic breathed in deeply and knocked on Tails' bedroom door. There was no reply. Sonic knocked again, a little louder. Still nothing.

"Tails?"

He began to panic, immediately thinking the worst. Shoving the door open, Sonic leapt into the room, heart thudding. He immediately relaxed, breathing out in relief, when he spotted Tails hunched into a ball on his bed, his back turned towards the door.

Sonic shut the door and leant against it, burying his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans. He cleared his throat awkwardly as his eyes flicked in the direction of Tails' bed.

"Tails..." The hedgehog started, swallowing as Tails sighed lightly, yet refused to answer him. "I... I don't blame you for not wanting to talk to me. I'm such a jerk and I'm sorry."

Tails sniffed, tugging the bedsheets between his fingers. Sonic stepped a little closer to the bed, one hand automatically reaching toward the fox. His arm froze and he drew it back into his side slowly, his shoulders collapsing in a compressed sigh.

"I'm sorry," he whispered for a final time, pausing in the hope of any response. "I should go..."

"Sonic," Tails said a little urgently, sitting upright in his bed. Sonic immediately turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Um..." Tails directed his eyes away from Sonic, awkwardly clutching his hands together. He knew he should tell his secret lover what he wanted to say, but he was unsure of how the hedgehog would react. If he was thinking the exact opposite, Tails would be completely humiliated and wouldn't know what to say or do. If, however, Sonic was thinking the same thing, then... well, Tails wasn't sure whether that would be a good thing or not.

"Tails?" Sonic sat down beside him on the bed, draping an arm around the fox's neck briefly. "What's wrong?"

"Uh, well... I was, thinking, and um..." Tails stopped short as Sonic's lips crushed his own, one arm sliding tighter around his neck, the hand of the other gliding lovingly through the golden fur on the back of his head. A mumble buzzed in Tails' throat as he struggled to decide where to rest his hands. His rigid arms softened around Sonic's back as he relaxed his previously tensed shoulders and allowed himself to be kissed. Sonic held the fox firmly but carefully, as if worried he may shatter if grasped too carelessly. He tried to keep his kisses light and soft, but they slowly became more rough, more desperate. And then Sonic held Tails too tightly, his hand wandering were it wasn't welcome, and the fox gasped, jerking himself away from his eager lover too harshly. Sonic's green eyes bore into blue ones, hurt, offended. Tails struggled to regain his breath, flattening the front of his shirt which Sonic's roaming hands had crumpled unwillingly.

"I... I'm sorry, Tails. I didn't mean... sorry..."

Tails wrung a tail between his hands, unsure what to reply with. He had completely forgotten, until now, what it was he had wanted Sonic to know. Now, he wasn't sure if telling him would be safe or not.

"Sonic," he said again, the words he needed to utter screaming in his head, "I want... I, uh, _wanted _to tell you, that is, that um..." Sonic's full attention was on the kit's words, while one hand subconsciously buried itself in thick tail-fur.

"Yeah?"

Tails' shoulders collapsed uselessly. "Nothing. I just... invited Marine over and I wish I hadn't. That's all."

Sonic grinned uncertainly. "Is that so bad?" Tails shook his head, blushing sheepishly at the stupidity of his sudden excuse. "Don't worry," Sonic chuckled lightly, leaning towards his best friend for another kiss, mentally promising to concentrate on keeping his hands under control.

_You should have told him!_ Tails' mind scolded, _you have to tell him at some time._ Tails agreed weakly, unable to keep full attention on Sonic's loving actions. And, when the hedgehog had left that night, Tails crawled into bed with the thought nagging him into sleep.

He wanted to have sex with Sonic.

* * *

_A/N: So, I know Tails wouldn't really know how they'd do it or anything, seeing as they're the first gay couple in exsistence, but I think he'd mean like, contact or touching or whatever O_O_ _Anyway,_ _reveiws, plz~_


	12. The feeling's mutual

_A/N: Holy crap, an update from Red?! No, you're not seeing things, I have updated Those Three Words!_ _Over two months without an update...that's a personal record. Anyway, here..._

_There might be some errors, as I didn't get a chance to read it through._

* * *

"Mom, this is... Marine," Tails said, wincing as he introduced his "girlfriend" to his mother. Marine was grinning like the idiot Tails saw her as as she grabbed Tails' mother's hand and shook it enthusiastically. The unnecessary action took her by surprise and Tails had to force himself not to groan in humiliation

_If Sonic was here now..._ Tails thought, gritting his teeth together as Marine chirped a hearty "G'day!" to his mother. He didn't even bother finishing the thought. Once Sonic was in his mind, he wouldn't leave. Tails was surprised that Sonic had even left his thoughts long enough for him to come back.

"Marine," Tails growled, trying extremely hard not to lose his temper, "why don't we... go upstairs. S-so I can show you my room," he added quickly, glancing across at his mother in case she took it the wrong way. He could see that even her smile was strained slightly. Marine had an odd talent of making people take deep breaths and force smiles onto their faces.

Once they were upstairs, Marine immediately started rummaging through Tails' belongings, picking various things and commenting on them. An excited babble of questions streamed from her mouth: "What's this?" "Where did you get this from?" "Can I have this?" Tails didn't even listen to her. He crawled onto his bed and sat with his back against the wall, leaning his head against it. He'd suddenly noticed a pain throbbing in his head, and closed his eyes to sooth it a little. Marine's never ending chatter and inability to stand still didn't help either.

The only problem with closing his eyes was that as soon as he did, the image of Sonic filled his blank vision, forcing him to focus all of his thoughts on Sonic and nothing else. That gave him an even more painful headache, yet he was compelled to keep his eyes tightly shut.

He knew that he'd been avoiding Sonic lately, and Sonic had been noticing. He was concerned about the fox, but thought it best to leave him alone, seeing as Sonic wasn't very good at helping people with their emotions anyway. It didn't stop him from worrying about Tails, though.

Tails clenched his hands into fists at the pain of his current thoughts. He needed to tell Sonic... it wasn't fair to push him away and suffer on his own when they were supposed to be in it together. But he was... scared. Scared of how Sonic would react, knowing that Tails wanted more from their already sinful relationship.

Tails kept his eyes shut as he imagined Sonic's response. If he felt the same way, and agreed to 'go further. well, that thought scared Tails more than it excited him. There were so many things to think about. What kind of impact would it have on the two of them? It could be exactly what Tails wanted – it could make them closer, improve their relationship... but what if it didn't? What if it made them distant, cause them pain; physical and emotional. Somehow, the bad points seemed to overshadow the good ones. Then again, that was exactly what Tails had thought about telling Sonic how he felt in the first place. He had risked everything by telling him he was gay; Sonic could have been exactly the same as everyone else and felt disgusted about him.

_But he didn't,_ Tails thought to himself. And he had known that he didn't, deep down. That's why he had told him. So maybe, deep down, he knew now that Sonic would feel the same way, and it would be all of the good things rather than the bad ones. _I guess that means I should tell him..._ Tails decided silently, opening his eyes.

The fox shrieked, jerking backwards and banging his head on the wall, hard. Marine had stood barely an inch from his face, and by the way she had positioned her head, shaped her mouth, she was unmistakably going to kiss Tails while he had his eyes shut. Even the thought of that made Tails shudder.. he clutched at his head, which had resumed its earlier throbbing, and glared at Marine. The raccoon blushed heavily, looking sheepish and she scurried quickly away from Tails and stood next to the door. Tails continued to stare at her in disbelief.

"Marine..."

"Uh... I'm sorry, mate. I think... maybe I'll go now."

Breathing heavily, Tails nodded, remaining on the bed as she saw herself out. His reaction had hurt her – he could tell, but he honestly didn't care. He leant back against the wall, wondering if Sonic was in his own bedroom, just the other side of the brick.

A fierce buzzing startled Tails, and he snatched his phone up immediately.

"Hello?"

"Tails?"

The fox felt a warmth fill his stomach, almost like a feeling of relief. Even hearing Sonic's voice made him feel safe; which was a comfort to him.

"Hey, Sonic," Tails smiled, lifting a hand and resting it against the wall. He imagined Sonic doing the same the other side.

"Is _Marine_ still there?" Sonic asked, his voice edged with a snigger. Tails pulled a face automatically.

"She just left," he replied. "She tried to kiss me."

Sonic snorted with laughter on the other end of the phone, causing a small smile to creep onto Tails' face.

"Sonic, don't. I feel quite sorry for her, actually."

"Why? You don't like her, do you?"

"What?! No, of course not! She's annoying, she never stops talking. and besides..." Tails paused for a moment, glancing over his shoulder quickly. "I only like you," he murmured.

Sonic smiled.

"Sonic," Tails continued, "do you think you could come over here? I... want to see you..."

"Sure. I'll be right over." Sonic hung up, his brow furrowing at the odd tone of Tails' voice. He'd been a lot quieter and more distant recently, and it concerned Sonic. Obviously whatever it was that was bothering Tails, he was going to tell the hedgehog what it was now.

***

Tails swallowed, clutching his hands together nervously. Sonic gave him a reassuring look.

The two of them were sitting on Tails' bedroom floor, against his bed. Outside, it was just beginning to turn dark, and Sonic would have to leave soon. When he had arrived, they had talked about nothing, and then laughed at the fact that everything they had talked about was pointless nothingness. However, the whole time, Sonic could tell that Tails wasn't really paying attention to what was being said, by Sonic or even by himself. And he also knew that he would have to ask Tails what was wrong at some time.

"Tails," he had said gently, laying a hand on the fox's, "what's wrong?"

Now Tails was still arguing with himself in his head, debating whether or not it was a good idea to tell Sonic what he wanted. He felt the hedgehog stroke his hand softly, the reassuring look remaining strongly in his deep green eyes. The fox sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"I..." he started, screwing his face up in distress as he tried to order the words in his head before they spilled from his mouth. "I want... I want us to..." He saw the flicker in Sonic's eyes, and stopped abruptly. He didn't need to say anything more. Tails drew his hand out from under Sonic's, turning his head away quickly as a blush burned on his cheeks.

"I'm... I'm sorry Sonic, I just..." Sonic snatched the fox's hands back into his own, forcing Tails to stare directly into his eyes. Their gaze held for a minute, two, before Sonic said simply:

"I want to, too."

They leaned in towards each other and shared a single intense kiss until the scorching light of the moon sliced through the room, and told Sonic that it was time to leave.

* * *

_A/N: I had to end it there, otherwise I would have just ranted on and on for another thousand words. Please leave a review; the more reviews I get, the more I update! **DO NOT **send me PMs asking me to update - leave a review instead._


	13. Problems solved

_A/N: I know for a fact you squeed when you saw this was updated. Aren't I ebil for making you wait so long? c: Technically, this hasn't been updated since last year roflol.  
_

_I changed my name, yes. See my profile for that._

_This update wouldn't be here if it wasn't for _**Little Miss Optimistic**_ and her constant nagging at me to update :B Yes, I mentioned you~ You can't get away with that much moaning and not get embarrassment out of it. Go read her stories if you like twilight.  
_

_One more thing. A lot of people have been asking me if this story will ever contain a lemon. Uhh... sorry guys, but 14-year-old girls don't really tend to know much about male/male intercourse... or at least, I don't. Sorry, no lemons!_

_(Woah, crap, it's 3:30am)  
_

* * *

"Prom's next week," Shadow mentioned casually. Sonic mumbled an "mm" in response; doodling shapeless... things on the back of his notebook. One scribble started looking a lot like a gun, the rounded tip pointed unintentionally towards a thin streak bearing two sticks that resembled twin tails. When Sonic noticed this, he scrawled over the doodles hurriedly, glancing at Tails who was buried deep in his workbook.

Shadow tilted his head slightly, smirking as he continued to push the blue hedgehog sitting to his left.

"So, Sonic... have you found anyone to go with yet..?" He expected his rival to yell back at him – in some previous cases when Sonic was really riled up, Shadow only had to flick him lightly and Sonic would have him slammed up against the wall, screaming empty threats into his smug, triumphant face.

This time all he received was a brief scowl and a reply of, "plenty of people want to go with me, Shadow."

"So, who _is_ going with you, then?"

Sonic growled lightly. Shadow was so irritating. The blue hedgehog could feel the anger automatically clench his fists as soon as Shadow started speaking.

"I haven't decided yet."

Shadow couldn't help chuckling at this, if a little warily.

"Well, you'd better hurry up and choose somebody," the dark hedgehog smirked, enjoying the conversation more and more with every small twitching of Sonic's clenched fists, "otherwise the girls will start looking for other guys to ask."

Sonic sighed heavily, turning his back to his rival and staring blankly at the wall above Tails' head, trying hard not to stare slightly lower at Tails' adorably concentrated face. If he was honest, Sonic didn't want to go the prom at all. He hated things like that for a start. Plus there was the pressing fact that he didn't actually have a girl to go with. Though why would he want to go with a girl? They annoyed him so much – staring at him and giggling and chatting behind his back, the endless swooning over him whenever he fought with Shadow or won yet another race... They were so small and loud and high-pitched...

Sonic rolled his eyes at himself. He didn't really think all that about every girl in existence. He knew next to no girls that annoyed him that much (_besides Marine_, he thought gloomily). The only reason he didn't like girls was because he simply wasn't attracted to them.

Though, of course, it wasn't simple at all. Sonic often wondered how he was supposed to live his entire life avoiding girls. It wasn't possible. His parents already curiously quizzed him about dating. What would they say if he never brought a girl home? And of course, they'd expect him to get married, have kids... Not only was it a repulsive thought for Sonic that he'd have to spend his whole life with some girl whilst not liking her in the slightest, it wasn't fair for whoever fell in love with him. For his possible future kids. And, he knew, secrets always found a way of revealing themselves at the worst possible time.

"Sonic?"

"Hmm?" The blue hedgehog turned quickly towards Tails, who was looking at him oddly. "What?"

"You... shuddered," Tails said, his voiced pitched in a tone which showed that he didn't really think this important at all and was simply looking for an excuse to start a conversation with his best friend. Sometimes, Sonic found it scary the way they could read each other so easily. Tails looked away quickly, frightened at how easily he could forget where he was and the dangers of holding a look with Sonic for that long.

The lustful tension between the two of them was unbearable. Both knew exactly what the other was thinking, and they'd yet to find an opportunity where it felt appropriate to talk about what had been said a few nights ago. It was impossible, the teens knew, to do what they desperately wanted. The amount of time their parents were out of the house was random and unpredictable. They needed to be sure that they'd have a good amount of time to themselves, no interruptions guaranteed.

The school bell that rang startled them both, and they glanced uncertainly at each other. The reason they each knew what the other was thinking was simple.

They thought the same thing.

**

Sonic was a little surprised when Blaze the cat approached him, her face calm and nobody by her side. The two had been friends in previous years, but slowly they'd become less close for no specific reason as they'd got older. They sill talked occasionally, but usually only as part of a group or about other people.

"Sonic," the lilac cat started immediately, "I need to ask a favour."

Sonic frowned slightly, but replied with an, "okay..."

Blaze sighed, directing her eyes at the ceiling as if struggling to order her words.

"Just listen, okay? ... Me and Silver broke up. He wanted to take some other girl to the prom instead because she'd asked him. He didn't want to break up with me at all, he just wanted to gain popularity by going with this other girl who's apparently more popular than me. So, I was wondering if you'd... go to the prom with me to make him jealous..?"

Sonic blinked, a little taken aback at such a large amount of information, and at the fact that Silver had broken up with Blaze. Even before their relationship, they were close friends. And they were the most 'successful' couple in the school, with a sixteen-month run and next to no arguments or fall-outs.

"You... want to go to the prom... with me..?" Sonic confirmed slowly. Blaze nodded just as hesitantly, wondering why Sonic was acting so dumb. Her brow raised slightly at the possibilities.

"We'd be there purely for show," she added, just in case the hedgehog mistook it and started expecting a full relationship, "to make Silver jealous."

"Right."

"Is... that okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay."

Sonic coughed awkwardly, letting out a breath he didn't even realise he'd been holding as Blaze walked away. He felt a laugh swell in his chest at his unbelievable luck. Not only had he found a date for the prom, but his date was someone who clearly wouldn't want a further romantic involvement with him after the event.

"Sonic?" The blue hedgehog turned at the small voice and gentle tug at his sleeve, still grinning like an idiot at his repressed laughter. Tails' own mouth curled into an amused smile at the unfamiliar and somewhat creepy expression that distorted Sonic's face so startlingly. "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," Sonic replied, no longer interested in the subject and desperate to get home. He began to walk towards the exit. Tails hurried after him, touching his best friend's arm lightly to grab his attention.

"Sonic..."

"Tails, we should get home. Everyone else has gone."

The fox kept a loose grip on Sonic's arm, a grip that could easily be escaped from, but somehow managed to keep the hedgehog still. He turned unwillingly to face his concerned best friend.

"Tails. I want to go h-"

"Why don't you ever talk to me?" Tails interrupted, hurrying his sentence so that his words merged together. Sonic's green eyes bore right into Tails' blue ones, filled with worry and confusion. Sonic shrugged his arm free gently, leaving Tails' hand suspended and grabbing at nothing but air, thick with tension and longing. His arm fell to his side lifelessly as he ordered his words again. "You don't... you never talk to me about things, Sonic. What I asked you yesterday... why do you refuse to answer me and change the subject so quickly?"

"I don't like talking," Sonic responded fairly quickly. His face burned; he didn't even like talking about how he didn't like talking. "Things... problems, how I'm feeling... I don't like discussing them with anyone. I prefer to listen to people, to help them, not be helped. I don't mean to upset you, I just..." The blue teen rolled his eyes tactfully away from Tails', stepping back and heading once more towards the school exit.

"We're going home," he said coldly, bitter from his own lack of personal strength and stubbornness.

**

Tails thought about what had been said between them the previous night (or, what _hadn't_ been said, in Sonic's case) as Shadow grumbled to Sonic for arriving out of school so late.

It was three nights after they'd both confirmed what they wanted to do – taking it "one step further", so to speak, though they hadn't discussed that topic since then. It hung awkwardly in the air around them, thickening the tension so much the two of them were surprised that others couldn't see it.

"Sonic..." Tails had mumbled against his secret partner's mouth. Sonic sat up, pulling away from the fox reluctantly. It was painfully obvious that he thought they should be spending every second of their time alone making the most of it. At most, they only ever had around forty minutes alone before parents would begin to arrive home and interrupt the two of them.

"Mm?" Sonic had replied simply, leaning as close as possible to Tails and entwining strands of tail-fur between his fingers gently. The fur was like cotton, long, delicate strands that waved softly in any slight breeze, comfortable and warm and fluffy.

Tails shifted awkwardly, unsure whether or not his question was even worth asking. It was pointless, unimportant, but a thing which made the young fox curious. It was rare that Sonic had secrets from his best friend, though this wasn't a secret, per se.

"What is it?" Sonic asked impatiently, his hands wandering around Tails' back slowly, making the fox tremble at the light strokes outside his shirt.

"Do you... do you remember when exactly you found out that you were... gay..?" Tails asked quietly, still not entirely sure what Sonic would say. The hedgehog swallowed, drawing his hands back in to himself and rubbing his upper arm uncomfortably.

"N-not really..." was his answer, though he could have written a six-page essay on what happened, where he was, what he thought, what he decided to do... Trouble was that he was never any good at writing essays, and stringing one off from words alone would have taken days. "Do you?"

"Yes."

"... oh..."

Tails' shoulders slumped as a sigh heaved his chest. "Don't you want to know when it was, or how I felt?"

"... not... particularly..."

The fox's blue eyes shimmered with hurt as he pulled away from his best friend coldly.

The truth was, he had been terrified. Discovering that he was gay was basically the same as receiving a death notice. That night, Tails had gotten next to no sleep. He cried silently for hours, burying his head into his pillow in case the overwhelming urge to scream took him over completely until he couldn't resist. He'd tossed constantly until his sheets became a useless, tangled mess. What little sleep he'd managed to get was fitful, splattered with chilling nightmares so that Tails woke up unable to breathe, sweat and tears soaking his body and fear horrifying his mind for days afterwards.

This had been weeks before he'd told Sonic. Most of the bad dreams he had starred Sonic in them, his disgusted face burned to Tails' vision. He had no idea whatsoever how he'd managed to gather the courage to tell his friend, or when he'd made the decision to. The days between terrifying nightmares and kissing Sonic for the first time were a blur – he couldn't remember them if he tried.

It was amazing how far they'd come in the short couple of months they'd been secretly together. But what was even more amazing was how far they still had to go. The finish line was nowhere near in sight yet.

**

The day when Blaze had awkwardly asked Sonic to the prom, Sonic and Tails did not go to the same house for forty minutes of kissing like they usually did. Tails was still hurt that Sonic couldn't talk to him, whereas Sonic resented himself for hurting Tails. The tension between them was not only unbearable, but it was ripping them apart.

_I just wish we could stop falling out at the stupidest things..._ Sonic thought with an unhappy sigh as he trailed into his kitchen. He was surprised to see his mother standing in there, smiling at him as he walked in.

"Hey, mom," he said, unable to fake a look of happiness quick enough.

"Bad day at school?" his parent asked sympathetically. Sonic gave a weak smile.

"Yeah, kind of..."

"Listen, you want to invite Tails over this weekend? It's a bit pointless you both being alone when you could be together."

"... What..?"

"Your father and I won that trip to a hotel with Tails' parents, remember?"

Sonic blinked.

"You forgot," his mother sighed in a "typical boys" tone. Sonic couldn't help the grin spread slowly across his face. He mumbled something in reply and then ran upstairs to his room, closing the door and leaning against it.

Laughter spluttered from his lips as his legs trembled. They were going to be alone. For a whole two days. _Two days_ of no interruptions, guaranteed. The luck he'd had today was unbelievable.

Too good to be true.

He knew that he wasn't lucky. He didn't want to go to the prom with Blaze, with anyone. And the laughs that still shook his body, he knew, were just to mask the petrifying fear that made his legs tremble at the idea of himself and Tails being alone for so long.

* * *

_A/N: If you want updates, I want reviews. DO NOT PM ME ASKING ME TO UPDATE. Review instead, PLEASE._


	14. Awkward love

_A/N:** HOLY SHIIIT!** Don't worry, I'm as shocked as you are. A TTW update? This thing isn't dead? The answer is, no it is not. Dear God this chapter was a pain in the arse to write (can you tell?). See... this is the ZOMGSECKS chapter and I did NOT want it to be a lemon (sorry, guys!), so therefore I had to write a sex scene without actually having any sex in it.. which let me tell you, is bloody hard. A five month wait for this? Is it worth it? Let's see, shall we?_

_**Important:** This chapter contains a few flashbacks. The story up to this point has been set in late spring/early summer. The flashbacks here take place during late-ish winter. Got that? Just to avoid confusion._

_Ohgodit's4am._

_**NOTE:** For some reason, the site keeps on removing the seperators I place between flashbacks. It's VERY irritating, and I apologise if they disappear yet again and you get confused.  
_

* * *

The night air outside was warm. Sonic stood on the front step, watching his and Tails' parents drive away with several waves. They'd been catious to leave the two teens alone for a night, for fear of something bad happening. Sonic had the same fear, although he was quite sure it was completely different to what is parents were afraid of.

Swallowing, Sonic turned to his hallway and closed the door behind him as silently as he could. Across the darkened hall, a weak blue light flickered out of the living room, where Tails was seated. Alone, and waiting. The hedgehog gave a soft sigh as he slowly made his way towards the room.

Tonight was going to be... interesting.

* * *

Winters on Mobius were always freezing cold. Lucious white snow spread across the ground all through the season, trampled to mush during the day and laid fresh in the mornings. This meant that for the kids who had to walk to school, it wasn't a very pleasant journey.

Usually, crowds of unhappy teens trudged their way to their classrooms and headed immediately for the heater that spread right across one wall, under the window, the same in every room. The earlier you arrived, the quicker you could huddle to the heater and warm up.

One particular morning, Sonic and Tails had turned up a little later than usual, because of the child-like urge Tails had been overwhelmed with to throw a snowball at Sonic's head. Acting on this urge had resulted in a mass two-man snowball fight, and meant that when they dragged themselves, cold and damp, into school, they weren't very hopeful that they'd get to stand by the heater for very long as it would more than likely be crowded by ealry birds.

However, when Sonic entered the classroom, he glanced towards the window to see only a few people hovering by it. The rest of the class gathered around a single desk near the back wall, murmuring excitedly about something or other. Sonic turned to throw a, "looks interesting" grin at Tails, before jogging over to the cluster of kids to see for himself. Tails followed slowly, still shivering in his damp clothes and longing to hang by the warm window for a few minutes.

Pushing their way through, Sonic and Tails eyed what was so fascinating to the rest of the room. Shadow sat at his desk, smirking contently with himself as others asked him over and over again to see whatever it was that had them so eager. The dark hedgehog's crimson eyes met Sonic's as he reached under the desk and pulled out a rolled-up magazine. The boys tipped their heads forwards to get a better look and most of the girls rolled their eyes and stepped back as Shadow unrolled it.

The magazine was full of pictures of girls, wearing little to no clothes. They stood or sat on beaches, cars, desks and blank white backgrounds, striking poses and pulling faces that screamed bad acting, but all of which would (and did) appeal greatly to males. Shadow's grin grew bigger as the boys made sounds of approval and scrabbled to turn the pages. Sonic scoffed.

"Is that it? Shadow brings in a magazine and gets instant fame? Pfft, I bet most of you guys have this issue stashed away at home anyways," he said smoothly, before turning on his heel and walking towards the heater. Tails swallowed hard as his eyes scanned the page in front of him, the way the other boys were drooling over the current page. Personally, Tails found the woman sprawled awkwardly over the car roof.. disgusting. The huge fake smile smeared across her plastered face made him shudder. He had to clench his fists to stop himself from reaching out to slap the magazine shut, just to cover her stupid airbrushed skin and digitally enlarged, uncovered chest.

Backing out of the crowd in disapproval, the fox began to wonder why women would want to degrade themselves so drastically, just so teenagers and desperately lonely men could gape at her picture for hours each night.

_If that was a guy,_ Tails thought to himself, _he wouldn't look nearly as stupid..._

Not realising what was going through his head, he continued to imagine a magazine similar to Shadow's, but filled with page after page of males. They'd be slim and uncurved, sitting neatly on cars instead of spread all over them. It wouldn't be degrading for them to be topless. They'd be flat, casual, attractive...

Sonic's eyes reflected confusion as he watched his best friend run suddenly out of the classroom. He called after him but shrugged it off, shifting by the heater.

Tails slammed into a cubicle in the boys' bathroom and fell against the door, hard. He struggled to breathe as sudden realisation punched him in the face, again and again and again.

_Stupid! How did you not realise before? Stupid, stupid idiot!_

* * *

There had never been an awkward silence between the two of them. Not ever. That fact made it all the more awkward as Sonic and Tails sat on the sofa, at opposite ends, staring at the glowing TV as if in a trance. Neither dared glance at the other for fear of making the atmosphere even more awkward.

Sonic's eyes rolled to the ceiling. Here they were, alone. For hours. No fear of parents returning until tomorrow afternoon. They had all the time in the world compared to what they usually did - hours and hours of time to do anything they wanted. It was what they'd longed for since the beginning. Time alone, even just to be next to each other. They both knew it, both wanted the same thing. So why was it so damn awkward? Why weren't they using their time rather than letting it tick away, sitting in silence?

The hedgehog leapt to his feet suddenly as something touched his hand, startling him. He stood and looked sheepishly at Tails, whose hand hovered above the space Sonic's had just been. The older one sighed and rubbed his arm in embarassment.

"Tails.. I'm sorry that this is really awkward. I... I just don't.." He sighed again and headed for the door slowly. "How about some food?"

* * *

He sat shivering in the cubicle for what he presumed were hours. He was frightened - no, that was an understatement. He was completely terrified about what would happen if anyone found out he was gay.

But... how would they possibly find out? He wouldn't tell anyone, not ever. He _couldn't_. He'd get killed instantly, no doubt about it. But what if he let it out by mistake? Just one slip up could cost him his life.

And Sonic...

What about Sonic?

Tails had never noticed before how oddly fascinating it was to watch Sonic eating. Usually, the hedgehog crammed everything down his throat without thought (Sonic loved to eat), but tonight he seemed different. Each bite he took, each time his jaw moved with each chew, he appeared to be eating slowly and carefully, as if every second of eating that pizza slice mattered. His green eyes flicked towards Tails as he swallowed and reached for another piece.

"Why are you watching me like that?" he asked with interest, gathering cheese with his tongue. Tails cleared his throat a little and turned away, feeling his cheeks begin to heat up.

"Sorry.. I was j-"

The fox stopped mid-sentence as he felt Sonic's hand take his own, and shuffle towards him carefully. They sat hand-in-hand right beside one another, legs touching lightly, arms brushing together with every movement. Tails coughed a bit, his face burning.

"If we're gonna feel awkward just sitting here," Sonic said thorugh a mouthful of food, "we might as well make it _really_ awkward, right?" Tails nodded and then thought for a moment.

"I don't want to feel awkward, Sonic," he decided. "I'm just a little.. scared, I guess..."

Sonic gave Tails' hand a gentle squeeze.

"I understand. If you're too afraid then I don't want to push you into any-"

"I want to," Tails interrupted sharply, though he felt his voice waver slightly, "I do."

Sonic smiled, standing up to clear the remains of their dinner and take them into the kitchen. As his partner left the room, Tails sat back in his seat, his heart thudding hard. It was difficult to tell whether it was because of lust, or plain fear, though he guessed with a heavy heart it was the latter.

* * *

For Sonic, realising he was gay was quick and mostly painless. He'd had dreams about Tails for a while.. dreams where they'd sit and talk, hand-in-hand, talk about nothing important and nothing that Sonic remembered when he woke up. There were dreams he'd have about childhood memories with Tails, simple visits to parks and carnivals and school field trips, where they'd mess around and walk off together on their own. And then.. there were dreams in which the two of them were older, set in places like bars, offices and big fancy apartments. They walked off together in those places too; outside the bar in a small alleyway, into an uncrowded office room. Here, they would kiss. Passionately and for hours, just kissing and nothing else. Sonic woke up morning after morning, confused as to what these dreams meant.

When Tails leant in to kiss him for that first time, it all fell into place. It wasn't a hard-hitting realisation like Tails' discovery had been. It was more like the "ohh, of course!" feeling that you get when you find out something you couldn't remember. The fear was there, but the love overwhelmed it, unlike with Tails. It might have been because Sonic had less time for the fear to build up than Tails did - the second the penny dropped for Sonic, he knew Tails felt the same and that was that. With the younger one, he'd had weeks beforehand to worry and fret and lose sleep, wondering what to do about it.

So, even though they felt the same, there would always be a different balance between fear and feelings for both of them.

* * *

When Sonic returned, he sat down next to Tails as he had before, only closer this time. Tails felt his heart beat faster and faster as Sonic pressed against him, began to slide his hand over the fox's middle, down his leg. The fear surfaced as Sonic kissed him, kissed him differently to any other time. He was more sure, more confident as he twisted his body to try and lay on top of his younger friend. Tails pushed the fear down and tried to concentrate on returning the kisses he was receiving, wriggling uncomfortably as his back was pushed into the arm of the sofa.

Sonic made a small noise in his throat as he slipped his right hand into Tails' shirt and rubbed his back gently. They broke apart and lay still, staring into each other's eyes whilst trying to breathe.

"Tails," Sonic whispered simply, "I love you."

It was with those words that Tails knew, there was no backing out now. But he didn't want to back out, did he? This was what he wanted, what he initiated. He _loved_ Sonic, and wanted to let him know that no matter how scared he was about it.

His heart pounded quicker with each new place Sonic trailed over. His shirt was pulled off cleanly, and he gasped at the warmth of Sonic's fur, skin, on his. He was scooped up and they stumbled up the stairs in a daze, fell into Sonic's room like drunks.

The fear resurfaced when Tails was held against the closed door and kissed until he was dizzy. His vision blurred as Sonic joined him in the bed. He _felt_ like a drunk. It was all unclear as it was happening. Somehow the fear was thrown to one side and replaced with an animal-like need to be close to his partner.

And they got more than close. As the night continued, two teens who were hopelessly in love shared a secret in one small room, hidden away from the world. They did something that had never been done before in history. But it didn't matter, wasn't important. Because all it was, was love, and love had happened a billion times over, again and again and again. The world revolved around love, and that's how Tails felt during that moment. He felt amazing. The entire planet disappeared and it was just Sonic, the love of his life, and him, and nothing else. The fear was obliterated as love took him over, the love that they had made. Whoever said teenagers only think they're in love was proved wrong right then, because both Sonic and Tails were completely certain that they didn't want, or need, anyone else, ever. As long as they had each other.

As long as they had each other.

No matter what happened, whether the fear returned or not.

They'd be alright.

* * *

Sonic's eyes were heavy. His head pounded and his limbs were numb. Attempting to roll onto his back, he raised a difficult hand to his head and wondered why he felt so... so... _hungover_.

And then his clouded eyes widened as realisation hit. Not like a punch in the face, more remembering something he had forgotten. He moved his head sharply to the left, causing a jolt of pain in the back of his neck. The space next to him was empty, the sheets crumpled to indicate that a small body had laid there up to an hour or so ago. Swinging his legs out of bed, Sonic searched around for something to put on before slowly making his way down the stairs.

The kitchen floor was cold as he walked in. Outside, the early summer sun was beginning to rise. Tails' shimmering blue eyes watched the view with content, before switching to look at Sonic. They wore symmetrical smiles as their eyes met, Tails' brimming with elated tears,

"Hey," Sonic muttered, softly.


	15. Prom Night

_A/N: Hi guys, it's me again. Yep, I died. But I'm not wasting time explaining why here, go to my profile for that, okay? There's also a TTW poll on there. Vote?_

_While I have the time, I'd like to thank _**Tailsy chan** _for offering to translate Those Three Words into Spanish. The first few chapters are in Spanish, on her profile. Thanks! :)_

_Now, this chapter. This chapter. Hmm... wasn't that hard to write. Didn't take long. Bit boring to produce. But it is essential for story progression, so, here we go.

* * *

  
_

Saturday. Prom night.

Tails sighed quietly in his room. He must have been the only person in the year to be dreading this evening as much as he did. Sonic... he wasn't so sure what the hedgehog thought about the whole thing. Dances and dinners and dressing up smartly, those had never been exciting in the slightest for Sonic. But he didn't seem to mind going at all. It didn't even seem to bother him much that Tails was expected to spend the entire evening with a girl.

"I have to spend the whole evening with Blaze," Sonic had pointed out, scoffing slightly at Tails' over-dramatisation of the situation.

"That's different, and you know it is," Tails replied, frustrated. "You two aren't dating, you're together for show."

"So are you and Marine. Technically."

"But no one knows that!"

Sonic's eyes widened a little at the snappy remark. He lowered his head, shaking it slowly, and chuckled.

"Tails. It's one evening. You know, a few hours and it'll be over. I don't get what's bothering you so much about it."

The fox had given up trying to explain. He didn't even know himself why he was so apprehensive. Just the thought of having to go to one of these things with a girl he didn't even like.. to think he'd have to dance with her and hold her hand and enjoy himself with her, it made him shudder. It seemed so wrong to put on a show when he'd only want to do those things with Sonic.

Tails clenched his fists as he sat on his bed, alone. Why was the world so unfair? Why did he have to live his life the way other people wanted to, rather than how he wanted to? It wasn't fair - on him, on Sonic, on their families and future families... What if there were others like them in the world? He had wondered this a lot of times.

Tails had stared at his ceiling night after night, thinking up crazy ideas on how to get what he wanted, and keep it. They were all ridiculous and impossible. The only two realistic scenarios would be that he could stay with Sonic, secretly, all the way through their lives - and also get a female partner and have children. That thought made Tails shiver. Sonic with someone else... was unimaginable. He wouldn't be able to stand seeing someone else touching him or kissing him, laughing with him and telling him they loved him. Then there was the woman herself - and the children. Why should they have to live with and love someone so fake?

The second and final option would be to break it off and live "normal" lives, with a family and everything that was expected. Tails felt sick at the thought. Not being with Sonic any more would be an impossibility in itself. He loved Sonic, without a doubt. He would not be able to see him every day like nothing had happened. The night they had made love was still the best night of both their lives. Tails felt like everything that had happened up to that point had been leading to it. It was like nothing made sense before then, like that was the final twist in a story which made everything add up.

Of course, he didn't tell Sonic any of this (though he was desperate to know if the hedgehog felt the same). It sounded far too cliché, and Sonic for one hated anything that sounded corny.

"It's nice, Tails, but... It's way too cheesy," Sonic would say with a shrug whenever Tails voiced his feelings deeply. "It sounds like you've read a line in a book and thought it would be nice to repeat it. It's too rehearsed to sound good. Like a script, you know?"

"But it's how I feel," Tails replied once, embarrassed and hurt.

"I know." Sonic had stepped forward and rested his hand flat on Tails' chest, feeling the material beat gently with the pulse. His other arm had snaked around the fox's middle, pulling him gently closer. "But feelings are meant to be _felt_, right? Not spoken. 'I love you' says enough without you explaining the details. Okay?"

Tails had nodded, the smile already on his face, muzzle reddening.

Now he stood up from his bed and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Unlike the girls, and probably some of the boys too, he hadn't begged his parents for new clothes for the prom. The dress code was smart/casual, not formal, so he wore black jeans and a white collared shirt. The crimson heels of his sneakers seemed to ruin the monotone of his attire, but it couldn't be helped. The fox wrapped a tie around his neck and began to knot it, when a shrill buzzing made him jump. He picked up his phone from his bed and answered it.

"Hey, Tails."

A smile crept to his face, as always.

"Hi, Sonic."

"... You're not still worrying about tonight, are you?" Sonic's voice sounded hopeful that Tails would reply 'no'. Tails thought he probably should say 'no', but he couldn't stop worrying, and he wanted Sonic to know that.

"Kinda... I don't know, Sonic, something about tonight just makes me want to hide away in my room."

"You can't do that. I'll be bored all evening." The hedgehog paused. "Plus, Marine would miss you," he said with a smirk. Tails gave a weak, sarcastic laugh and said nothing in response.

"You know," Sonic went on, "after tonight, you'll be able to break it off with Marine, easily. Seeing as you did only agree to go out with her for the prom."

Tails' face lit up briefly at the thought, then fell as the options he had been considering for his and Sonic's future entered his mind. Maybe it would be easier for him to keep the same girlfriend? The thought of having a "girlfriend" at all made Tails wince. He only wanted Sonic. What was he meant to call Sonic, anyway? His boyfriend?

"Tails?" The fox hadn't realised the phone conversation had fallen silent.

"Yeah... Sonic, I should get going. We're leaving pretty soon."

"Alright. See ya later."

"I... love you," Tails whispered, after Sonic had put the phone down. He sighed.

* * *

Tails was extremely glad he'd decided not to take the prom seriously. It was one evening, barely four hours long, and yet some of the guests had gone way over the top. Girls leapt from limousines in huge dresses that must have cost their parents' entire pay cheques. The boys acted like they didn't care about the prom, yet some of their outfits must have been expensive too. Tails was glad to see he was not the only one dressed in something that didn't break the bank.

He entered the prom hall alone, trudging along behind a group of people he couldn't name. He found a corner with a chair and sat in it, watching everyone else wander over to the dance floor, the stage, the "bar" (no alcohol). Next to where he sat was a huge table filled with food. People drifted over, glanced briefly at it and walked away. Obviously they weren't hungry yet.

_This is more like a last-minute house party than a prom,_ Tails thought miserably, picking a strip of chicken from the food table and nibbling it. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the door - awaiting Sonic's arrival, dreading Marine's. He really hoped she wasn't wearing one of the dresses he liked to mock. What if she made him complement it?

The door swung open and in walked Sonic. Tails felt his heart leap. Sonic's outfit was similar to his own, collared shirt with tie and jeans, yet they couldn't have looked more different. Sonic's shirt was black, the first couple of buttons undone, sleeves rolled up, tie hanging loosely. His jeans, a deep blue that was almost black, trailed their hems on the floor, covering all but the tips of his red shoes. The hedgehog's quills were messed slightly, his expression was hard to read and he stood with his hands in his pockets. Every head turned to look as he walked in. Tails could see Shadow in the corner of his vision. He didn't look happy as Amy, too, watched Sonic enter.

Tails' eyes followed Sonic as he walked across the room and stopped close to Blaze. He flashed Tails a cool grin, then turned away from him. Tails sighed at Sonic's ability to look so good without even trying. The fox dragged his eyes back to the food table and felt his heart leap once more. Marine stood right in front of him, wearing a green dress that, Tails had to admit, wasn't horrible.

"Hey," Marine smiled, slightly nervous. Tails breathed in deeply and stood up with her. At least she hadn't said anything annoying.

The evening dragged. Eventually a couple of hours passed, but there were still more to go. Tails wanted to scream. He and Marine must have been the most awkward couple at the prom. Neither knew what to say to the other. Even Sonic and Blaze - the fake couple - seemed more comfortable than Tails and Marine.

Pretty soon, everyone had eaten and had a drink, and the dance floor was filled. Marine suggested that maybe the two of them should dance too. Tails agreed half-heartedly, and wondered why Marine was so quiet and nervous this evening.

_This is soo awkward,_ Tails thought as he danced clumsily with Marine. She seemed to know how to dance but he couldn't follow her steps. He felt like everyone was watching them, even though when he scanned the room all the other couples were too busy to notice anyone else. Several people were kissing. They weren't at all self-conscious, and didn't seem to care if people watched. Tails ached to be able to kiss Sonic freely like that. It just wasn't possible.

The fox stopped looking at others and turned his head back slowly to Marine. He was pulled forward suddenly and felt unexpected lips on his own, rough and inexperienced. Sickly sweet fragrance filled his mouth and nose as he realised with horror that Marine was kissing him. Tails' eyes were wide with shock as he froze, unsure of what to do. From the corner of his eye he could see Sonic glaring right at him. His expression read nothing but hatred.

Tails couldn't bear it. He shoved Marine away harshly and stared at her for a few seconds. Her eyes were confused and hurt. He knew she would hate him now. He knew Sonic did too.

"I... I'm sorry," Tails gasped, turning and running from the hall. He scrubbed at his lips with his arm, greasy lipstick smearing on his fur.

There were tears in the fox's eyes as he slammed himself against a wall around the back of the building. He let himself fall to the ground. His head fell into his hands and his tails wrapped themselves around his knees. It had all seemed so quick. Why did he let Marine kiss him for so long? Or at all? All he could think of were Sonic's cold green eyes and the way he was looking at him. It was as if he never wanted to speak to Tails again.

Footsteps were approaching. Tails knew whose they were. He opened an eye to see a blur of red shoe. A tear slipped down his cheek as Sonic stepped forwards.

"Tails..?" An odd hint of fear could be heard in the hedgehog's voice.

"I'm sorry, Sonic," Tails whispered. He shifted a bit, not raising his head, then mumbled, "I guess you must hate me now."

"No," Sonic insisted. There was a pause. "You... didn't _want_ to kiss her... did you..?"

Tails' head shot up and he looked right at his partner.

"Of course not, Sonic! It was horrible - she got lipstick all over my face and I nearly choked to death on her perfume!" Sonic couldn't help but chuckle.

"That bad, huh?"

He held out his hand. Tails looked at it for a while, decided Sonic didn't hate him after all, and let himself be hauled to his feet.

"Whoops," Sonic grinned as he pretended to fall forwards with Tails' weight. They ended up against the wall. Tails smiled at Sonic contentedly, tracing small circles on the hedgehog's chest.

"I thought you were mad at me," Tails said sadly. Sonic shook his head.

"I thought _you_ kissed _her_, not the other way around. I got... jealous, I guess."

"So there was a reason to dread tonight," Tails said smugly. Sonic said nothing in reply, but leaned forwards and pressed his mouth to Tails'. They were locked in a tight embrace, pushed as closely together as they could get. Sonic took Tails' bottom lip between both of his own and kissed him gently, a long and slow kiss that made Tails' heart thud and his face flush. He shivered as Sonic's fingers brushed the back of his neck, and he ran his own hands through Sonic's quills.

They remained there for what seemed like hours but could have been no more than a few minutes. Sonic pulled away briefly to whisper "I love you" to Tails.

And he froze.

After a few seconds, Tails frowned, wondering why Sonic had stopped kissing him. He looked to the hedgehog's face for an answer, and followed the stricken green eyes.

Tails' heart stopped.

Barely ten feet from where they stood, Shadow the hedgehog stared back at them, mouth open, face pale.

* * *

_A/N: :)_


	16. The unbelievable truth

_A/N:__ An update! This one took less than two months, so... I'm getting quicker ;) Although to me, it doesn't seem long ago that I finished chapter 15... But whatever._

_This chappie's a long 'un. Nearly 3500 words. Took me over a week of on/off writing to complete - the longest chapter I've ever written, for anything. I was going to split it into two but then I thought, "nahh..." Did you know this story is almost complete? :O I could make it a wee bit longer but only by using **very** clich_é_d events and loads of filler. So I probably won't bother._

_Also, could you please please visit my very lovely boyfriend **Ootfan**'s profile? :) Even just a visit would be nice - or you could be awesome and read his story._

_Now. Let's get on with this, shall we? I really hope FFN keeps my line breaks.. Not like last time..  
_

* * *

It was scary, at first. Of course it was. Nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Their parents weren't here. They were on their own.

Tails edged a little closer to Sonic. He was frightened, and not afraid to show it. He could see the stares, particularly one from a certain dark-coloured hedgehog. Disgusted. Confused. All eyes were on the pair as they walked across the room, towards the back of the class. They took a seat on the end row of desks, and tried to ignore the hedgehog who followed them.

His quills were streaked with crimson, his eyes the same colour as they fixed themselves on Tails. His smirk contained a tiny, menacing pointed tooth. He leant on the fox's desk and grinned.

"My name is Shadow," he said, his voice surprisingly quiet. There was a pause. Sonic knew what was coming next. "...Why do you have two tails?"

Tails shrank in his seat as sniggers ran through the room. Sonic growled. He knew this would happen. Tails was only four years old. Stuck in a class of energetic six-year-olds, this was not looking like a good first day of school. He had, of course, been put forward a year in school due to his intelligence.

The blue hedgehog shoved Shadow on the shoulder. The two had hated each other for over a year already - Sonic hoped Shadow wouldn't give him a reason to build the hate even more.

"His name is Tails, and you better leave him alone," Sonic scowled aggressively. "He's my friend. And he's younger but smarter than all of you."

The rest of the class stared. Sonic refused to make any friends in his first two years of school, though many kids wanted to pal up with him. Now he was claiming this weird New Kid to be his friend. One of the kids began to see an opportunity to befriend Sonic.

"I think your tails are really cool," Amy Rose chirped, approaching Tails. "I bet you can do all kinds of cool things with them!"

Tails smiled shyly, glancing at Sonic. Sonic grinned back - he found Amy annoying, but at least she was being nice to Tails. A couple of the other children agreed, and started crowding Tails, asking him questions and offering him pencils and pieces of candy.

Tails happily accepted the attention, swishing his tails on request and doodling little machine designs. Sonic let out a sigh. It was all right. Tails would enjoy school.

* * *

The silence was torturous.

All three teens stood staring. Sonic and Tails at Shadow. Shadow between the two of them. Sonic had smartly stood back from Tails, but it was too late. They'd been caught.

Tails could feel the rapid beating of his heart pulsing in his head. He couldn't move if he tried. He looked to Sonic for help, but the hedgehog wasn't looking back at him. He was maintaining eye contact with the darker hedgehog, searching for Shadow's thoughts. Eventually the blue one sighed and took a step forwards, causing Shadow to take a few appalled steps backwards too.

"Shadow-"

"Stay the hell away from me!"

The black and red hedgehog turned and began to run, headed for the entrance to the hall where everyone else remained. Sonic felt his heart stop for a second.

"Shadow, no!" He dashed forwards, easily catching his rival when they were still a good distance from the doors. He'd always been the faster of the two. "Please, Shadow, you can't tell anyone! You know what'd happen!" He desperately grabbed the darker one's arm and yanked him back.

"Get off of me," Shadow hissed, wrenching his arm free and shuddering. His eyes stared again at Sonic's. The fear they found was disturbing, yet somehow... Shadow wanted to make it worse. Hadn't Sonic angered and taunted him for all these years? Embarrassed him in races, in front of Amy; beaten him in fights, pushed him to his limits until he snapped and then _he_ was the one who always got into trouble for their fights. Sonic deserved what was coming to him.

"What are you gonna do?" Sonic asked quietly. Shadow clutched at the arm Sonic had held and remained silent as Tails approached the two of them slowly.

Shadow's eyes flicked between the both of them.

"What the hell were you doing?" He asked, not expecting an answer. "You had everything anyone would ever want. Why would you mess it all up so badly?" He allowed the confusion to settle on Sonic and Tails' faces, before turning away in disgust and continuing for the hall doors. Sonic snapped to his senses and leapt after him. Unexpectedly, Shadow swung round and smashed his fist into Sonic's stomach. Even when Sonic was faster than Shadow, Shadow was clearly better at physical fighting.

"I told you to _stay away from me_! Disgusting freak!" Shadow yelled, speeding into the hall. Temporarily incapacitated, Sonic sunk to the floor, coughing. He could do nothing but let Shadow go.

Tails rushed to Sonic's side, reaching down for him helplessly.

"What are we gonna do, Sonic?" He whispered, panicking. "Do... d-do you think he's going to tell everyone?"

Sonic was the one to feel helpless now. He wanted to reassure his friend, but he couldn't. They'd been caught. Did that mean it was over? It couldn't be... But how could they possibly carry on now that someone knew?

Sonic groaned and rose to his feet shakily, arms wrapped round his throbbing stomach. With his body bent forward, he slowly approached where Shadow had entered the building. Tails held on to one of the hedgehog's arms.

"I'm not... going to let him tell... anyone." Sonic growled. Tails pushed open the doors when they reached them, still supporting Sonic. They scanned the room, worried about any changes in people's moods or expressions. But it didn't look any different to before they'd left. Tails noticed that neither Marine nor Blaze were in the hall, and guilt momentarily washed over him. But he couldn't worry about that now. Someone else was missing too.

"Where's Shadow?" Tails pointed out in a hushed voice.

Sonic clenched his teeth, immediately noticing his rival lurking by the stage. He shoved his way through the groups of his classmates, annoying them - not that he cared. When he reached Shadow, the dark hedgehog was making his way onto the stage. Sonic snatched his arm, this time keeping a firm grip on it.

Shadow whipped round, his face desperate, disgusted. It was obvious that he thought he'd "catch" Sonic's homosexuality. He struggled, but it was useless.

"You were gonna tell everyone, weren't you?" Sonic hissed, crushing Shadow's arm as hard as he could. Shadow winced with discomfort.

"What, you expected to never get caught?" The darker hedgehog paused. "I mean... this... wasn't the first time, was it?"

Sonic's eyes were dark as he scowled at Shadow for a moment, then shook his head. He saw the repulsion creep back to Shadow's expression.

"It doesn't matter anyway. You can't tell anyone. Do you really think they'll even believe you?" Sonic yelled in pain suddenly as Shadow swept his heavy boot into Sonic's side, twisting his arm free at the same time.

"We'll just have to see, won't we?" The darker hedgehog bellowed, unaware that the entire hall had heard Sonic's pained cry and turned to look. The disagreement itself was nothing unusual - Shadow and Sonic were always arguing about something or other. The power of Shadow's kick was shocking, however. Serious fighting was strictly banned at school, as Sonic and Shadow had discovered at six years old when Sonic had ended up with a nosebleed and Shadow a cut lip.

"What are you two playing at?" This furious question came from a teacher who was supervising the dance. Sonic was hunched over, head low, catching his breath. Shadow stood in a ready pose, breathing hard. Tails trembled gently a few feet behind Sonic.

Shadow straightened his back and faced the silent hall. He wanted to tell them. He wanted everyone to mock Sonic, as Sonic had mocked him for ten years. He wanted all the girls to forget Sonic and tag after _him_ instead. The thought of Sonic being weighed down by disapproved looks and disgust for the rest of his life... Shadow couldn't help the tug of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

"I went outside a minute ago," Shadow announced. He had the full attention of every student in the hall. Tails watched on, feeling useless as ever. He wanted to run and hide. He wanted to cry.

No.

He wanted to shove Shadow right off the stage. Jump on him and pummel his smug face with rock-solid fists. Stop him from saying it. What did it matter if Tails got excluded? He'd do anything to keep seeing Sonic.

The fox curled his hands tightly and leapt forwards.

"Sonic and Tails were kissing," Shadow said in a rush, unable to force the words "gay" or "homosexual" from his mouth. He shuddered at the thought, the image, the words he'd just announced.

Tails stopped dead. Sonic looked up.

The hall was as silent as before. Shadow's hands shook as all eyes were on him. He felt so stupid.

_They don't believe him_, Sonic and Tails thought in disbelief.

There was a sudden huge shattering sound and shards of glass rained on Sonic and Tails as a drinks bottle exploded above their heads. The hall of students erupted with noise, proceeding to shove past Shadow and advance on the other two, bottles and other items in hand

"_Run!_" Sonic yelled, ignoring the throbbing pain in his middle. They had to get out before they were killed. He jumped to his feet, grabbed hold of Tails' wrist and made a dash for the door. They managed to barge their way past the screaming mob and get out into the open.

Tails fought back the tears as Sonic tugged him along, away from the school. He could have stopped this. In so many ways. Everything was ruined now.

Sonic couldn't think of anything but the pumping of his legs and the thud of his feet. He adjusted his grip on Tails' wrist and forced his legs to move quicker. He didn't even realise where he was headed until his and Tails' houses came into view.

All the lights were off. Both sets of parents were out whilst their sons were at the prom. Sonic ran a little slower to his front door, unlocked it, and stepped inside, pulling Tails in with him. He took note of the eerily empty street before closing the door gently. Tails fell to the floor, panting. He hadn't actually been running, but was breathless from fear and the speed at which Sonic had pulled him along. The fox's feet hadn't touched the ground.

"What do we do now, Sonic?" Tails whispered.

Sonic dragged a hand through his quills, like he always did when he was stressed. He winced at the situation, willing an easy answer to appear like a light bulb above his head. It didn't.

Try to make everyone see reason. Impossible. Try to make out like it was all a joke, and get Shadow to go along with it. Impossible.

Sonic shook with anger. Shadow. That back-stabbing son of a bitch. Even when they'd called each other "rivals", Sonic had always considered Shadow a friend. How could he do something like this?

It was too late to dwell on it now, though. They had to do _something_. The pair's houses would be the first place everyone would look for them, despite the quiet, comforting feel of Sonic's home. The hedgehog faced his partner.

"We gotta get out of here, Tails," he sighed. "We'll have to find somewhere to go, or... something."

Tails was terrified as he nodded obediently. Sonic ordered him to stay in the hallway, paused, changed his mind, decided that they should stay together no matter what, or where they were. He pulled Tails upstairs and into the hedgehog's room. Both of them looked sadly at the familiar space. They'd done so much in here, from playing together when they'd first made friends to making love so recently.

Sonic swallowed hard. He longed to fall into his bed with Tails, wrap his arms around the fox and fall asleep. Never wake up. Or wake up that morning after they'd spent the night alone. He'd do anything for this to not be happening.

"Sonic," Tails said, taking hold of Sonic's hand. The hedgehog squeezed it, inhaling deeply. No point in all these "what if"s and "I wish"es. This was happening, and they had to pull it together.

The older of the two began rooting in cupboards and drawers, emptying everything onto the floor. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, but somehow convinced himself it was better to be doing nothing helpful whilst moving rather than doing nothing helpful whilst standing on one spot. He found his school bag and began to shovel things in there, not really paying attention to what he was doing. Tails watched his partner in silence. He'd never seen Sonic so panicked before.

"... Sonic," he said quietly, "what are you planning to do?"

"We gotta get away, just for a while," the blue one replied, emptying his bag and starting over. "If we wait a while, maybe... they'll forget all about us..." His voice trailed off, actions slowing at the same time until he stopped altogether. He pressed his mouth shut, directing his eyes to the floor.

Tails gulped. "There's... no way out of this, is there, Sonic?"

The two looked at each other, holding the gaze for a while. Sonic sighed and stepped forwards to embrace the fox - then stopped. The window glowed an odd orange colour and a mutter of noise could be heard. Sonic approached the window and cautiously pulled back the curtain. His eyes widened and he hurried to switch off the light - but it was too late to hide in the dark.

Outside, a mob of at least two hundred people moved like a wave to Sonic's house. The sight was like something from a film, but chillingly real. They carried multiple sharp objects, rocks, bricks... Some people carried fire, burning atop what Sonic assumed were sticks or something. The roar that emitted from the crowd was oddly muted by the walls of the house.

"We gotta get out of here!" Sonic exclaimed as stones thumped against the window. He slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed hold of Tails' hand, pulling him out the room and down the stairs. They slid to a halt as a chunk of brick shattered the frosted glass in the front door. Sonic steered them towards the back exit, and as they escaped through the back door into Sonic's yard, Tails felt the putrid smell of gasoline prick his nose and eyes.

Sonic's house went up in flames seconds after they managed to get out. The glaring fire swept across the house quickly, and Sonic couldn't help but pause and watch his house, which he'd lived in all his life, burn. He thought of Shadow, their friend, who had betrayed them. All their other friends who had chased them away. The people of the town who didn't even know him, yet had destroyed his home. He swallowed, shaking his head from side to side slowly.

"This is... medieval," he whispered in disbelief.

Tails looked to Sonic's face. The orange of the flames reflected in the hedgehog's eyes and made them glimmer. Had their lives not been in danger, Tails would have thought about how mesmerisingly attractive this looked. But Sonic made a single, slow blink and turned away, his eyes green once more. The shouts of the mob could be heard from the front of the house.

"Are they still in there?"

"Someone needs to check..."

"No! There they are, look!"

It was as if the two of them had snapped from a trance as they gasped simultaneously. Sonic clutched Tails' hand and started to run, leaping over the fence that separated the back of his house with a field and groups of trees. The ground behind them thudded with the bricks and rocks that were hurled their way. Tails had to stop himself from screaming. It was all of his nightmares put together. But Sonic was here. That was something.

The trees began to get thicker and more closely spaced, and a brief smile flickered on Sonic's face. This was the forest he and Tails had spent practically all their spare time playing in when they were younger. How could he have forgotten it? Vague memories sparked in his mind; every turn and every tree seemed familiar. He used to know his way around this entire forest. Overcome with a brainwave, Sonic took a sharp right-turn until he came to a thick clump of tall bushes. He paused in front of them, shuffled his hand through them a bit and leapt through where the branches were thinnest.

The two of them collapsed to the dusty ground, too scared to even pant. Sonic looked around him. These bushes looked a little thinner and shorter than he'd remembered, but that must have been because he was older and taller now. They were still concealed. The noise of the mob couldn't be heard, though the silence was more unsettling. Fox and hedgehog sat deathly still in the dark of the night.

After a while, they relaxed a little and got more comfortable. Tails clung to Sonic's arm, and Sonic sighed understandingly.

"What you said earlier," Sonic murmured, keeping his voice low, "you were wrong."

Tails looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Sonic's eyes flicked to the bright moon, visible through the trees. Tails watched him with wonder. The moonlight had the same effect on Sonic's eyes as the fire had earlier on.

"There's no _easy_ way out of this," Sonic mumbled. "There's... gotta be some way out, some way we can live normally again. No matter how hard. We just need time to think of something."

* * *

_A/N: Temporarily incapacitated. I like that. Tem-por-a-ri-ly incapactitated. Yeah._

_Reviews make my day. Srs. I love hearing what you think of this story - positive and negative comments welcome! :)  
_


	17. Hide and Seek

A/N:_ Uh.. Hello._

_Yeeeah, TTW hasn't been updated since January. **January! **Five entire months. That's a new record, I think. I have reasons *coughexcusescough* but they're long and boring and really, who cares? You all just want to read the story, am I right? I had to rewrite this chapter so many times!  
_

_This chapter could have been longer. However, I decided to split it into two short chapters instead because a) I knew you all wanted to see **something**, no matter how brief, and making it longer would have taken another week or more and b) I just wanted to publish it like this.  
_

* * *

It was strange, waking up to the jagged shape of leaves against the morning sky. For the most peculiar moment, Tails was certain he was seven years old again; running through the emerald trees at the end of the summer. He could remember the games he played with Sonic - games without rules in which the objective would be to basically have as much fun and make as much noise as possible. They'd always end up collapsing to the ground, usually giggling, and they'd stare up at the trees until it was time to go home.

Tails sat up and observed the clearing they had spent the night in. It was really small; only just enough room for the two of them to fit in comfortably but was very well-concealed. The bag which Sonic had brought along had been slung into a nearby bush as there was nowhere else for it to go. Tails leaned over and pulled it out, examining the contents.

His shoulders sagged with disappointment when he saw what was inside. Okay, so he knew Sonic had packed it in a hurry and his mind had been on other things, but he had hoped for something halfway useful: food, drinks, maybe spare clothes or something to keep warm. What he did find was some school books, two shirts and a handful of candy bars.

_At least there's food_, he thought, though the fact wasn't very comforting. They couldn't stay here for too long. Tails packed everything back into the bag and pushed it through the bush. He turned to face Sonic, and was surprised to see that he was awake, sitting up and staring upwards. He turned his head and smiled softly at his companion. Tails managed to smile back without forcing it, and shuffled closer to the hedgehog.

The leaves rustled above them as they sat together, Sonic's arm draped over Tails' shoulder. They directed their eyes at nothing in particular. The quiet was unsettling. Somehow they got the feeling that there was someone close by, waiting for them to give away their location.

Sonic was the first of them to speak, and the sudden sound of his voice startled Tails.

"I've been..." Sonic began, lowering his voice as he realised how loud it sounded, "thinking."

"In your sleep?" Tails whispered, his voice so soft the swish of the trees could drown it out. Sonic grinned.

"No... I've been awake for a while. It's okay to speak loudly, you know. Nobody's around, and this little space is pretty far from the main pathway of the forest."

"How d'you know there's no one here?" Tails asked. He still felt uneasy.

"I got up a while ago and checked around a little. They obviously thought we'd exited the forest and gone somewhere else."

"You got up? And left me here? Weren't you afraid of being seen?"

"Of course I was. And I didn't go very far. I didn't want to let you out of my sight."

Tails' heart thudded at the idea of Sonic leaving him alone here. He would have been so afraid if he'd woken up and Sonic wasn't there. He didn't want to be separated from the hedgehog for a second. They had to stay together. The fox adjusted his position, curling his tails around him and snuggling in to Sonic a little more. The hedgehog used both arms to hold him there tightly.

"So what were you thinking about earlier?" Tails pressed carefully after a few minutes of silence. Sonic gazed straight ahead, collecting his thoughts from earlier on and organising them in an intelligible way.

"Do you ever wonder... if we're the only ones on the entire planet who are gay?"

Tails paused, a little stunned. Whatever he had been expecting Sonic to be musing, that wasn't it. The truth was, Tails had considered before that maybe there were others like them on Mobius. Its population was so large that it was almost impossible for only a scattering of homosexuals to have existed in the past century. Sonic and Tails were now the first ever male-male couple in existence. Though of course, their outings had not been voluntary. So what about the possibility of more gays in the world? Not only that, but perhaps even more secret gay couples. The idea was so likely that it was near impossible for there _not_ to be any other gays on the planet.

"Yeah," Tails replied, "I have thought about it. I think it's pretty possible there are more like us."

"Exactly," Sonic agreed eagerly. "And if there _are_ more people like us around, then by now they've gotta be supporting us, right?"

Tails' brow furrowed. "I... don't really get what you mean," he said, confused.

"Think about it," Sonic began to carefully explain. "If there are more secret gay people - or even couples - out there in the world, and they hear about us and how we've been found out and how we're on the run... They're going to want us to escape and survive, right?" He knelt up and faced Tails as he continued to explain. "Okay, so I guess they won't actually come out and say 'we're gay too, now let them go', but they're going to be willing us to survive so that there's hope for them. And... This might sound like a weird idea but I was thinking that what if there were already some gays who had decided to just leave before they were caught? What if there was some kind of... I don't know, like a refuge for people like us? Maybe not a refuge as such but just a place where people go if they're gay and they can live there in peace without anyone knowing where they are."

Tails tried to take in all of Sonic's ideas at once. He did have a point, though. There was a chance that some kind of "escape" could have been formed; somewhere where they could be safe for the rest of their lives. And if it were full of gays anyway, then they could stay together because nobody would mind.

"You're saying we should try and search for a place like this one?" Tails asked slowly, finding it hard to keep up with Sonic's thoughts. The hedgehog thought about this, then shook his head sadly.

"I don't know how we'd find one. It's just about impossible. But here's what I think. I think that if anyone was supporting us, they'd tell us about the place we can go. They'd contact us in secret and let us know where it is."

"But no one knows where we are. How could anyone contact us?"

Sonic's shoulders sagged and he sat back against the tree.

"I'm sorry, Sonic, I didn't mean-"

"No, you're right. It was a stupid idea. I mean, why would anyone support us? We live in a world which hates us. The idea of someone actually wanting us to live is ridiculous."

Tails reached out to comfort Sonic when there was a sudden furious rustling, followed by a thud as a silhouette landed in front of them. Tails' hand froze in mid-air at the same time as a short _click_ sounded.

"You're right about that," a voice agreed, its owner stepping forwards swiftly. Sonic turned and tensed up as the cold metal of a gun's barrel pressed roughly between his eyes.

* * *

Sonic's heart pounded. Running never tired him out, but games did. Hiding away from others and the thrill of getting caught made his pulse race much more than running a mile. He peered around the tree. No one in sight. Slowly, he sneaked around the base of the tree and shoved through the bushes, landing expertly in a dusty clearing. Trees and high leafy masses surrounded him, easily concealing him away from his friends. He relaxed and sat back against a tree, his heart calming steadily.

"No one'll find me here," he mumbled to himself with a smile.

"Found you!" A voice cried, and Shadow the hedgehog tumbled from a tree in a flurry of leaves, trying and failing to land neatly. He collected himself quickly and straightened up, pointing his weapon at his rival's face. Sonic felt his chest thud rapidly again as he realised there was no way of avoiding Shadow's intimidating artillery. The blue hedgehog uttered a childish profanity before Shadow pulled the trigger, an amused and somewhat menacing laugh escaping his lips as he did so.

Before the ammunition could hit his best friend, a small fox jumped between the hedgehogs and took the full force of Shadow's large gun. Tails was knocked to the ground from the force of the water whilst his protection meant that Sonic received only a minimal sprinkling. Shadow grunted in annoyance, staring down at the drenched and dazed fox on the ground. Tails sat up, his fur heavy and dripping from Shadow's powerful water gun. The dark hedgehog lowered it to his side. It was empty and Sonic was still irritatingly dry. Shadow knew how much his rival hated water and was looking forward to drenching him in his worst fear.

"Stupid Tails. You always ruin all our games!" Shadow yelled. The fox looked up at the nine-year-old. The face which glared back down emitted hatred and annoyance, the deep crimson eyes staring into the younger blue ones as if suggesting threat. Tails should have been scared and usually would have been, but one glance at Sonic's grateful grin reassured Tails that making Shadow a little bit aggravated was worth it.

Still soaked and beginning to shiver, Tails turned back to his black and red friend and stuck out his tongue as a successful taunt.

* * *

A/N:_ I have a feeling my "cliffhangers" are getting tiring by this point...  
_

_**OMG! **Who could it be?_ ... -,-;

_The next chapter -shouldn't- take very long, but I'm not promising anything. The next chapter will be short and mostly dialogue. The next chapter will be the penultimate one._

_**The Next Chapter will be** - coming soon.  
_


	18. Regret

Of course it was Shadow. Nobody else would have known about Sonic's favourite hiding place in the forest. For a second, Sonic was impressed that Shadow had been able to recall its location from years ago. But he didn't have time to praise Shadow's memory. There was a gun rammed at his forehead. A real _gun_, cocked and ready to blow him to pieces at any second. Sonic could do nothing but stare helplessly at the gleaming silver blur between his eyes, Shadow's form only just recognisable behind it. His heart hammered. He knew Shadow would pull the trigger if he wanted.

Tails, too, could do nothing but watch. His eyes were agonised and sweat beaded on his own forehead as he fixed his eyes on the barrel of the gun. He desperately wanted to make some kind of move; to wrench the gun from Shadow's grip or grab it and turn it to his own head, saving Sonic's life. But he was terrified that sudden movement would make Shadow shoot by accident - or on purpose.

Nobody spoke. Shadow's weapon said as much as was needed. Sonic's current position required no words. And Tails was utterly speechless.

Sonic had so many things he wanted to say. But he didn't dare. Shadow had complete control over the situation. If he didn't want Sonic to speak, he could silence him in seconds. However, it was Shadow who finally prompted conversation.

"Not going to say anything in your defence?" Shadow's voice sounded odd. It was weak and jagged, as if he hadn't slept for a while. Tails would go as far as to say the hedgehog looked slightly deranged. He was certainly acting like it. "I could kill you in half a second," he hissed unnecessarily, "and you're not going to _say_ anything?"

Sonic swallowed, unsure if Shadow was simply trying to get him to talk so he'd have an excuse to kill him. Although he was probably going to shoot eventually, so what difference would it make to die now? He had nothing more to lose. Besides Tails. Sonic dared a quick glance at the fox to make sure he was relatively okay, before facing Shadow.

"Wh-where did you get that... gun?" Sonic asked, his voice croaking. Shadow tightened his grip on the handle, twisting the gun at an angle.

"Everyone over the age of fourteen who lives in our area has been given a weapon," Shadow explained. Sonic's eyes widened and Tails let out a quiet "_what?_" in disbelief. "They were offering a selection - guns, knives, torches. Some people had their own weapons though. Everyone has something. Thousands of people have been looking for you all through the night. We don't have to go to school. In fact, they offered me months of time off school because I witnessed it. Marine, too, seeing as she was Tails' girlfriend."

Tails winced at that comment, feeling more than guilty for ever dragging Marine into the situation - even if she wasn't technically his girlfriend.

"Do people really want us dead that badly?" Sonic whispered, more of a thought than a question. Shadow grinned, though Tails thought it looked a little strained.

"Of course they do. You deserve to be. You're disgusting and pathetic; thinking you can be so special and not follow the rules of life just because you're 'the amazing Sonic the Hedgehog'." Shadow's anger caused him to push the gun harder into Sonic's head, gripping it so tightly that Sonic could feel it vibrate as Shadow's hand trembled. "Guys aren't _supposed_ to go with other guys, you idiot. You're meant to be with a girl so you can have a kid," he went on, as if Sonic had forgotten this simple biological fact. "But _no_, you're Sonic and Tails, the two 'brothers' who get to oppose basic natural processes, just because you're both total freaks of nature and want to get some kind of sick revenge-"

"_You shut up!_" Tails yelled, leaping to his feet and standing right in front of Shadow, practically nose-to-nose with him. The fox was considerably shorter, however, and had to bend his neck right back in order to make eye contact. The dark hedgehog stepped back a little, perhaps from fear of Tails' sudden ferociousness or fear of "catching" his homosexuality.

"Tails, don't..." Sonic muttered, not wanting Shadow to turn the gun to his companion's head. Tails ignored him, keeping his eyes fiercely fixed on Shadow's.

"I'm sick of letting myself be insulted by you! You've called me a freak from the day we met, and for what? Because I have an extra tail - a deformity that I can't _help_ being born with! You think that if I had the choice, I'd _choose_ to have an extra tail? You think I'd _choose_ to be ridiculed by closed-minded idiots like you, or be stared at in the street?" By this time, Shadow looked a little stunned. His arm which was holding up the gun slacked a little, aching with the effort of holding it upright for so long. Tails paused for a moment, breathing hard with frustration. His eyes flicked back to lock onto Shadow's once more as he came to the conclusion of his speech.

"Of course I wouldn't have chosen to have this stupid deformity. But I got stuck with it, and there's nothing I can do. Just like me and Sonic are stuck with being gay. We didn't _choose_ to be. Why the hell would we do that? Why would we willingly give up a normal life and instead choose to live in secrecy and fear of everyone? No one would ever choose to be gay; they'd be absolutely crazy to do so. But we didn't choose it. It's something we can't help."

Shadow straightened his stiff arm, determined to keep his weapon against Sonic's head. He maintained eye contact with Tails, taking in the details of his rant.

"Then why you?" Shadow demanded desperately. "Why is it you and Sonic that are... like this?"

"Why is it me who has the extra tail, and Sonic the unusually blue fur?" Tails replied quietly. "It's just random."

There was a short silence. Of course what Tails was saying made sense. But Shadow didn't want it to. Besides, maybe Tails was just making it up anyway. Maybe he _did_ choose to be that way, and was only saying otherwise to save his life. Shadow smirked.

"I don't believe you. And neither will the rest of the world. Right now there's a huge search going on - the largest in history. No one like you has ever managed to hide away for this long. Everyone'll find you eventually."

"You're right," Sonic said quietly. His head hung low, his quills sweeping over his face and concealing it. "We'll die eventually. What's the point in dragging it out? We may as well give it up now; turn ourselves in and accept what's coming." He raised his head slowly, his eyes dark. "So shoot me," he muttered to Shadow with a voice drained of emotion.

Shadow looked shocked. This was an unexpected outcome. He had presumed that Sonic and Tails would be begging for mercy and offering anything in return for not dying. Now Sonic was _asking_ to be shot? Surely Tails would have some kind of protest? The dark hedgehog looked to the fox, who was watching with a blank face.

"Shoot me," Sonic repeated quietly. He echoed the phrase over and over, getting gradually louder. "Come on, Shadow. _Shoot me!_ It's what you came here to do, isn't it? So hurry up and do it! Shoot me!" He jumped upright and faced his rival. The two were the exact same height, same build, like a reflection of each other.

Shadow forced himself to keep the gun pressed to Sonic's head. The stupid faker was right. He did come here to shoot them both. Well, maybe not Tails. Tails hadn't done anything to annoy him. Although he _was_ gay. Wasn't that the reason he was here to kill them? No, it was just because it was Sonic, that annoying, cocky faker whom he had hated since childhood. It wasn't because he was gay.

_It wasn't because he was gay._

Sonic was still insistent, repeating "shoot me" over and over, adding mocks and taunts. He could see that Shadow was cracking. He knew it. Shadow didn't _really_ want to kill them. It was a small start to their hope of escape. Shadow's hand trembled, his jaw clenching at Sonic's incessant gabbling.

"Shoot m-"

"I can't!" Shadow yelled. His arm fell heavily to his side and his eye contact fell to the floor. Sonic and Tails looked at each other. "I hate you, Sonic. I hate you for ruining my life by being better than me. Everyone sees us as two sides to one person - and you're the better side. The one everyone loves. No one likes _me_ - "Sonic's evil twin"-"

"We're not related," Sonic said bitterly. Shadow glared at him.

"We look similar. We may as well be. I _hate_ you and I really do just want to... to _kill_ you - but not because you're gay. I don't care about that. And I'm not going to kill you here and kid everyone that I did it because you're gay."

The three were silent as Shadow's words were pondered between them. Shadow stood still, wondering what Sonic's reaction would be.

"If you didn't care that we were gay, then why act so disgusted when you found us? Why tell everyone what you saw and get us chased out of town?"

"I... I _was_ disgusted at first, and I still kinda am. It's weird, two guys together when it's not meant to be that way. But I don't get why everyone's this worked up about it. It doesn't mean you should be punished for it, not in this way. And I thought that maybe the whole idea that you should be killed might have just faded away. I didn't know people still felt so strongly about it."

Shadow raised his gun a little, inspecting it, before tossing it to the side. It landed in a bush with a swish.

"I never meant for this to happen," he said quietly, speaking to himself rather than to the other two.

"Then fix it," Sonic demanded coldly. "You expect us to forgive you for telling everyone just because you 'never meant for this to happen'?"

"Who knows you're here?" Tails asked. Shadow looked to him.

"No one, I swear. I... I wanted to find you by myself and - and get all the credit." He winced at how pathetically competitive it sounded. Sonic scowled.

"Then go and tell everyone you found us somewhere in the forest," the blue hedgehog said. "Tell them you shot at us but you missed and we ran away. Lead them somewhere away from here. Tell them I stole your gun, so they should be careful because we might be dangerous. Tell them I punched you in the face before you could shoot accurately, and then that's when I stole your gun. Show them your black eye to prove it."

Shadow frowned. "But I don't have a bl-"

He was cut off by a fist of rock smashing into the right side of his face, knocking him backwards into one of the bushes surrounding the area. Dazed, he opened his eyes, expecting to see Sonic looming above him. Surprisingly, it was Tails who looked down on him, rubbing the knuckle of his left hand. The fox was inexperienced when it came to punching. Sonic stepped beside his partner and offered Shadow a hand. Shadow held Sonic's wrist awkwardly, and the blue hedgehog yanked him to his feet, almost sending him stumbling over on to his front.

"Now get out of here," Sonic hissed. "Go and tell everyone what I told you to say. Got it?" He gave the dark hedgehog a fierce shove out of the clearing, making sure to keep him away from the bush where he threw his gun.

Shadow turned around to look at the two one more time. He opened his mouth, paused and then turned and walked out of sight slowly. He knew his apology would mean nothing.

* * *

_A/N: Next chapter is the final one.  
_


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